All or Nothing
by PMOHWinters
Summary: The Freedom, is in a desperate race to reach Earth before the Covenant attack, but when it finally arrives, will the ship, its crew, and its Marines even be able to make a difference? Sequel to Mist. COMPLETE
1. Freedom

Chapter 1: Freedom

Captain Rogers gripped the armrests of his command seat in impatience as the crew began the countdown procedures for a Slipspace jump. Normally, powering up the drives and plotting course would only take a few seconds, but the _Freedom_ was a new and untested ship in so many ways, and there were certain protocols that needed to be followed.

As he understood it, the _Freedom_ was the pinnacle of Human ship engineering, combining the advanced technology of the Covenant with good old fashioned Human know-how and improvisation. Though most of the ship's technology was Human-based, nearly 40 of the ship's systems consisted of Covenant technology salvaged from captured or destroyed Covenant equipment. Some of this technology included shield projectors, improved Slipspace drives, more accurate navigation equipment, and artificial gravity.

Weapons-wise, the _Freedom_ was a powerhouse. It had three heavy MAC cannons, hundreds of 150mm autocannons, dozens of brand new gauss turrets, and a revolutionary particle beam weapons system. After studying Covenant weapons systems, scientists figured out how to control and manipulate energy using magnetic fields. Unfortunately, plasma energy just wasn't very compatible with nuclear reactors, so the designers instead opted for what could basically be summed up as an "ion cannon". They build a giant magnetic tube and coiled it into the shape of a double helix, making it small enough to fit within the confines of a ship hull. The tube basically accelerated ions to near lightspeeds and smashed them together, creating huge amounts of energy. Special turrets were placed at several points along the helix, and used magnetic fields to focus all of that energy into a coherent beam. Field tests showed that it could quickly carve up large meteors like a turkey in Thanksgiving, but it was yet to proved against actual ships.

The _Freedom _was also basically the size of a UNSC carrier, which allowed it to carry a large complement of troops and craft. It carried three squadrons of Longswords, six Pelicans, and a small army of Marines and vehicles.

Rogers felt confident in the _Freedom_'s ability to lay down some serious hurt on the Covenant, but his biggest concern was the fact that so many of the ships critical systems were new and untested. With the recall order, there was no time to take the ship through proper field trials and tests, so anything could happen.

"Slipspace drives powered, coordinates locked." Joshua announced. "All nonessential crew have been safely locked in cryo-sleep. Reactors running at peak efficiency. Slipspace jump in five, four, three, two, one."

The _Freedom_ suddenly bucked and rattled as it entered the event horizon. Like loyal pets, the _Valiant_ and _Fidelity_ followed close behind.

"ETA on our first waypoint is approximately twelve hours. Would you like to take advantage of the ship's cryo facilities?"

Rogers shook his head. "I'd rather be on the bridge."

"As you wish, sir."

Rogers keyed the comm system. "Engines, report your status."

"Performance was excellent, sir." The engineer on the other end replied, "The drives did exactly what we wanted them to do. Efficiency, however, is another matter. The drives used 500 more energy than they were supposed to. We've had to shut down some nonessential systems. We're doing our best to fix it, but we'll probably have to stop for repairs once we reach the first jump point."

Rogers sighed. "Inform me anything else goes wrong. Bridge out."

"Problem, sir?" Joshua queried.

"Just hoping things won't turn out any worse than they are already."

"Would you like to play a game to pass the time? I've programmed over 700 different games and I am-"

"No thanks, Joshua." Rogers got up from his seat. "I'll be in my quarters. Lieutenant Sink has command of the bridge."

**Security Station D7**

"Well well, what do we have here?" Paccone sat down, sipping a cup of coffee and catching a hostile glare from Karla. "I thought you would've been in cryo-sleep along with the rest of guys."

"The only way they're going to get me in one of those ice-coffins is by shoving my dead, bullet-ridden corpse in there." Karla replied, reading a book.

"Ouch, girl! I was only asking." Paccone leaned back on his chair threw his empty cup at a trash bin and missed. "Man, my aim is pretty crappy today."

"Your aim is _always_ crappy." Karla grunted, still not looking up from the book she was reading. "Like that time you missed that Wraith tank."

"Hey, it was a pretty far shot!" Paccone replied defensively.

"The Wraith was _immobilized_, and its side was facing us. Only a blind, or incredibly inept, guy can miss something like that."

"At least that Jackhammer had a second rocket."

Karla snorted. "The reason why they made it carry two rockets is because of people like you."

"Sheesh." Paccone rolled his eyes. "Why do you have to be such a bitch?"

"Thank you, I try very hard. Now kindly leave before I introduce my new plasma sword to your face."

"You're so high-strung." Paccone smirked. "Since when was the last time you-"

"Oh no." Karla finally put her book down. "I know where you're going with this. Don't you even dare _think _about asking that question unless you're prepared for pain and suffering on a scale that you cannot possibly comprehend."

"Just answer the question, Kare, or I'll keep bothering you about it."

Karla's eye twitched at the mention of her much-hated nickname, and mentally reminded herself to kill Paccone when nobody was looking.

"Not since we last broke up." She sighed.

"I _knew_ it." Paccone grinned. "A couple of years is a loooong time to go without-"

"Just shutup while you're ahead, Ron." Karla started reading her book again. "I don't want to explain to Captain Rogers how and why somebody managed to shove himself out of an airlock."

"Fine." Paccone glumly began glancing at security screens, and noticed that Karla was paying particular attention to a certain one.

"Interested in what your little sister does in her spare time?" Paccone mused. "Nervous that she and Private Carter there will get all touchy touchy with each other?"

"I just want to make sure that that kid doesn't break her heart." Karla said without even looking at him.

**C Deck**

"Are you sure you're supposed to be up and walking around like this?" Leo asked, "I mean, with all those wounds and all-"

"Leo, despite what you think, I'm perfectly okay." Sam smiled. "What's wrong with you, anyway? You sound like you just tried to shoot me or something!"

Leo blanched, "No, of course not! What gave you that idea?" He was still unwilling to tell her the truth of what happened in the past few days.

Sam shrugged, and abandoned the previous question. "Anyway, what do you want to do to pass the time? I heard a lot of stories of how dull Slipspace can be."

"Why didn't you just get into a cryotube?"

Sam frowned and start mussing Leo's hair with her uninjured arm. "Helloooo, anybody remember that I suffer from a little thing called 'claustrophobia' aka, the fear of confined spaces?"

"I tend to forget that, especially when you're blowing the heads off of Covvies."

"Ugh, it's been _forever_ since I've gone on one of out little hunts!" Sam pouted.

"Hey, how about we go to the range and shoot some stuff?" Leo asked.

"Boy, you sure know how to woo a girl." Sam grinned sarcastically.

**Firing Range**

In order for Marines to stay in tip top fighting shape, most UNSC troop carrying ships had some kind of training facility for troops to drill and practice. The _Freedom_ was on the cutting edge, featuring a full scale firing range as well as simulated holo-training rooms. The ship's armories also sported a full complement of weapons of almost every imaginable type, letting almost any Marine divulge in his or her little fantasies.

"That is so sweet." Sam hugged her old sniper rifle as if it were a boyfriend she hadn't seen in years. "You actually went back to find it?"

Leo smiled. "Only the best for Eagle Eyes."

"Thanks." Sam kissed Leo lightly on the cheek. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

Leo was suddenly glad Sam was busy sighting her scope, since he was now as red as a beet.

**Security Station D7**

"You've got to admit, they make a cute couple." Paccone snickered.

"I blame you and your shoddy disciplinary skills." Karla sighed.

**Firing Range**

Leo watched as Sam put round after round into the distant paper target at the end of the range. Like all targets, this one had a rough silhouette of a human to encourage better shot placement. After Sam was finished firing, she hit a switch that activated the winch system to pull the target in.

"You know," Leo said, looking at the target, "You're actually supposed to be aiming for stuff like vital organs."

"Come on." Sam laughed. "You're saying that _isn't_ a vital organ?"

"I- I'm not even going to debate with you about that." Leo turned away.

"Well, look at it this way." Sam grinned and pointed to the target, where all of the bullet holes were placed on, or perilously close to, the silhouette's crotch area. "Even if he survives that, lets just say that he won't be all too happy with the state of things."


	2. Technical Difficulties

AN: I forgot to mention earlier, but for those new readers out there, if you want more backstory on the characters featured in this story, read the first installation of the series, Mist. Anyway, hope you like this story and R&R!

Chapter 2: Technical Difficulites

"I believe that's another checkmate, Captain." Joshua said, with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Rogers sighed, took another sip of coffee, and said, "Just reset the board Joshua. You'll make a mistake sometime."

"The odds of that happening are approximately twenty million to one." Joshua mused, rearranging all of the holographic chess pieces that made up his avatar. "So far, I have already won seven games to your two."

Rogers shook his head glumly. This was the price you paid for trying to outwit a Class A AI. He was pretty sure that at this moment, Joshua was playing around with him, running all of the automated processes in the ship, and staying in contact with the AIs on the _Valiant_ and _Fidelity_, probably with enough extra processing power to play another thousand chess games against himself.

"Sir." Rogers' comm chimed, "We'll be exiting Slipspace in twenty minutes."

**Security Station D7**

"So," Karla eyed Paccone suspiciously. "why is it that after all these years, you're still just a lowly sergeant? With what I've seen, you could've easily gotten a battlefield commission, and get at least the rank of Captain, maybe even Major."

Paccone laughed and replied, "I like being a Sergeant. I get to boss people around without having to fill out much paperwork."

"Ah, so you're a Johnson then." Karla nodded. Sergeant Johnson was one of the most famous or infamous Marines in the galaxy, depending on your point of view. He had fought in countless campaigns against the Covenant with barely scratch, and he was a Sergeant as long as anybody could remember. Unfortunately, Sergeant Johnson was MIA after Reach, though Karla had no doubt he'd be back one way or another.

"Besides," Paccone added, "I could never live myself if I got promoted. Then I'd become the very thing I hated, a white-collar pompous ass who can't tell the difference between his left and right hands."

Karla raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you've always thought about _me_ during all these years?"

"Awww, did I hurt your feelings?" Paccone laughed as he saw Karla's hurt and angry expression, "Nah, of course not, Kare. You're special, not like those other guys."

"Because I was the only one willing to sleep with you?"

"That works." Paccone grinned. "On the subject of bossing lower ranked people around, who're those two kids who were following you around in that 'hellhole that is not to be named'?"

Karla looked up, slightly surprised at Paccone's sudden interest in her favorite sergeant and replacement officer. Unlike their commander officer, they were both in cryo sleep right now. "What makes you ask?"

"Hey, it's my turn." Paccone sniffed.

Karla shook her head, feeling like she was back in grade school. "Williams and Richards are good both soldiers. Kids, yes, but damn good ones. Williams is a pretty silly kid with a sense of humor larger than himself, but he'' his job when he needs to. Richards, well, I had to burn up a lot of favors to get her into my unit. If even half of those rumors about her are true, I'm pretty sure the effort will pay off."

"Rumors?" Paccone suddenly seemed interested in the subject. "Last I heard, she's barely older than Sam, hasn't had a lot of time in the Marine Corps."

"I'm surprised," Karla leaned back in her chair, "That a sergeant like you hasn't heard of them. Why are you so interested in her anyways?"

Paccone shrugged. "You could just say that she looked a little familiar to me when I first saw her."

Karla eyed Paccone warily. There something that he wasn't telling her, but before she could pry, a warning siren started to blare, prompting both Marines to get up and grab their rifles.

Then the security station went black.

**Firing Range**

It would be an understatement to say that Leo was amazed at Sam's prowess with the sniper rifle. Even with the injured arm, she still retained most of her skill. Actually, Leo thought that she had somehow gotten _better_ with it. She was nailing headshots on moving targets nearly five hundred yards away without breaking a sweat, as if she _knew_ where they were going next.

"Are you sure you aren't cheating or anything?" Leo shouted, so Sam could hear him through her earplugs.

Sam looked up and asked, "What, is something wrong?"

Leo pointed to the faraway targets with neat little holes in their heads.

"Oh wow," Sam blinked, "didn't notice that."

Suddenly, warning sirens started to blare, and the firing range went black.

**Bridge**

"Joshua!" Rogers yelled, dazed at the sudden power outage, "Find out what's wrong! Communications, tell the _Valiant_ and _Fidelity_ to clear a path out for us! Engines, I hope you're still working so we don't slam into the planet! And for god's sake, somebody turn off that siren! I am painfully aware that there's something wrong with the ship!"

The loud, nasal tone of the siren finally cut off, and the ship's backup power activated, bathing the bridge in bloodred light. The bridge crew, barely silhouetted against the dim lighting, looked around nervously.

"Joshua," Rogers said calmly, "I want you tell me right now what the _hell_ just happened."

"It was a major system error, Captain." Joshua's voice floated around the bridge. There wasn't enough power to display his holographic avatar. "It was bug in the Slipspace programming that we didn't catch. The drives thought that they weren't getting enough power and starting sucking more from the reactors to the point that they were red-lining. My only countermove was to shut down the ship's reactors until I can find and isolate the bugged programming."

Rogers covered his face with his hand. He was afraid something like this would happen. What was the Navy thinking, rushing a newly completed and untested warship like this into battle? "How long?"

Joshua droned on, "We are currently running on emergency batteries which should last-"

"I said _how long_?" Rogers asked, putting more of an edge in his voice.

"Two hours at the most to find and debug the program, though I can reactivate the reactors and several other ship systems as I go along."

"Get the damn engineering crews busy too, just in case the problem is mechanical. And use our chemical thrusters to stabilize our orbit around that planet." Rogers pointed to the dull, grey rock that was merely named PX-454. "If any Covenant patrols pass by, I don't want to get caught out in open space."

"Yes, Captain."

"Sir?" One of the comm officers turned. The communications system was one of the systems designated emergency power. "The _Valian_t and _Fidelity_ are both reporting an unidentified ship on the fringes of the system."

"Joshua?"

"Yes Captain?"

"Remember when you said you could fix the problem in two hours?"

"Yes, Captain, I did."

"Well," Rogers stared grimly out of the bridge viewport. "Shorten it to fifteen minutes."

**Covenant Scout Ship _Wandering Pilgrim_**

Ship Commander Paken Zemamee sighed as he tapped his console in boredom. Even though system survey was a necessary duty in the Covenant fleet, that didn't change the fact that it was an extremely mundane and dull task. What made the duty worse was that Zemamee was the only Elite on this ship. Because scout ships had little to no combat worthiness, they were mostly crewed by Grunts and junior Elites. Duty on such a ship was considered to be punishment detail among the Elite ranks, which left Zemamee wondering what he had done to anger the Forerunners and the Prophets so much. Zemamee raised his head in surprise when he heard one of the Grunts warbling and barking in its native language. Paken listened closely to what the Grunt was wailing and let a smile crawl out across his mandibles. This duty had suddenly gotten interesting.

"Bring the ship about. Full speed forward! Arm weapons and power up shields!" Paken roared to his bridge crew. "Today is a good day to die!"

The Grunt in charge of navigation hesitated and warbled. Evidentially, it was afraid of charging the three heretic ships, one of which was extremely large. Paken raised his plasma pistol and shoved the barrel into its eyesocket and yelled, "In the name of the great Prophets, drive!"

Paken smiled as the ship vibrated from the sudden change in speed. The three distant blips on the viewscreen began to get larger, and Paken could make out two heretic destroyers, but could not determine the class of the third ship. Was it a carrier? Paken had no idea, but was eager to reduce it to a floating pile of slag.

"Fire!"

_**Freedom**_

"Joshua-" Rogers started, seeing the dual plasma beams lancing toward their position.

"Don't worry, Captain." Joshua cut in, "The Covenant ship fired well beyond its maximum effective range. Those plasma beams will lose their potency before they hit us. Besides, I've managed to restore navigation and shielding."

For a brief second, the space around the _Freedom_ flickered with golden light, which quickly dissolved into nothingness. The plasma beams, already losing much of their energy to the cold vacuum of space, were stopped several hundred meters short of their target by a golden wall of energy and dissipated.

"Well, at least we know it works." Rogers mused to himself. "Tell _Valiant_ and _Fidelity_ to engage that ship and keep it off our backs."

As Rogers watched, both of the _Freedom_'s escorts pulled sudden ninety degree turns, lobbing missiles at the Covenant ship. The enemy craft plowed through the hail of explosives, its shields shrugging the missiles off like raindrops on an umbrella. Fortunately for the Humans, scout ships were never meant to get caught in combat situations, and therefore did not have very powerful shielding. The silver protective screen of energy was torn away, and the remaining missiles slammed into it head on, knocking armor plates free and obliterating one of the ship's two turrets.

"Weapons, what's our status?" Rogers asked, still looking at the distant skirmish.

"Our missile batteries and autocannon turrets are operational, but I'm afraid our MAC and particle laser systems are still locked out."

"Order batteries A through F to launch a volley at the Covenant ship. Get each battery to stagger their fire. We want to keep up the pressure so it can't aim its plasma cannon."

Rogers watched as hundreds of Archer missiles erupted from the _Freedom_'s starboard side in sequence. The Covenant ship fired a plasma missile in response, totally ignoring the two UNSC destroyers pummeling it. The energy bolt sizzled past the _Valiant_'s port side and struck the _Freedom_'s shield, splattering across the protective field of golden energy like a water balloon.

"Stupid son of a bitch." Rogers shook his head as the _Freedom_'s missiles found their target. Almost every Covenant ship commander that Rogers had ever faced disregarded tactics and strategy and usually just rushed, firing in all directions. It was a horribly predictable and defeatable tactic, but when Rogers thought about it, the Covenant could afford to be sloppy due to the power of their warships.

"Keep up the fire and blow that bastard out of the sky."

**Firing Range**

"Oh man, I can't see a thing!" Leo cried out, reach his arms out to find something to grab onto.

"Stop moving around!" Sam yelled, grabbing Leo's hand and leading him out of the room.

"How can you see in this mess?" Leo asked, still unable to see anything but pitch black.

"What are you talking about? I can see just fine." Sam continued leading Leo until they reached the hallway, which was lit only by red emergency lights.

"Better?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, a lot- holy shit." Leo's jaws dropped as he looked out of the viewport.

"Huh? What's the matter-" Sam looked out of the viewport, "oh wow."

In the distance, both Marines could make out the distant flashes of a fierce space battle. Two black shapes were trading fire with a small purple shape in what seemed to be a lethal mix of fireworks show and dance routine.

"Isn't it fascinating," A strange voice suddenly said behind them, "how we can find something so destructive so beautiful and poignant?"

Sam and Leo both jumped in surprise and turned to see Scohar behind them, looking at the battle with a child's fascination.

"Scohar!" Leo gasped, "You nearly scared me to death! How'd you get here?"

"Leo? Do you know this guy?" Sam stared at the stranger curiously.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you two." Scohar smiled apologetically. "I didn't realize that you two were so caught up in the moment."

**D Deck**

"Wonderful." Karla sighed in the red haze. "I suppose you arranged all this so that I would get scared and jump into your arms."

"Not really, but that is a really great idea."

"I so wish Richards and Williams weren't in cryo, so I don't have to deal with you."

"Such hostility is so unlike you, Kare." Paccone said enthusiastically as he followed her down the hall. "I can think of a lot ways to reduce your stress, you know."

"Ah, but how many of those involve keeping my clothes on?"

"Not many." Even in the dim lighting, Karla could make out Paccone's mischievous smile.

Her only answer was the ominous _click_ of a rifle safety mechanism being flicked.

"Time to shut up?"

"Time to shut up."

_**Wandering Pilgrim**_

Paken held onto the console as more explosions rippled across the ship. Most of the Grunts on the bridge were either dead or trying to get out. Paken laughed at their almost comical cowardice, and casually shot a few with his plasma pistol.

"Keep firing! And don't stop until those heretic ships are destroyed!"

"Our turrets are destroyed!" A Grunt shrieked in reply.

Paken shot that Grunt in the head. "Then full power to the engines! Ram the heretic flagship!"

The chief pilot never heard his command. The command console exploded in its face, piercing the Grunt's skull with glass and computer components, and spraying its brains across the bridge deck.

"Useless fool." Paken growled, shoving the chief pilot's body out of the seat. Paken took the controls himself and aimed the _Wandering Pilgrim_ straight at the massive heretic carrier.

"For the great Prophets!" Paken yelled, "May they see our glory this day!"

The _Wandering Pilgrim_ surged forward towards the _Freedom_. Paken was too engrossed in the moment to notice one of his bridge crew sending a rapid and desperate message over the communication console. Battle and honor. To die was to be graced by the Prophets for eternity.

The _Wandering Pilgrim_ never got far. The _Fidelity_ fired its MAC cannon and hit the _Wandering Pilgrim_'s nose on the port side, severely altering the Covenant ship's course. Unable to correct its suicidal trajectory, the _Wandering Pilgrim_ was caught in PX-454's gravity well and slammed into the planet's bare surface, instantly flattening into a pancake of twisted metal and wreckage. The _Valiant_ made a quick flyby and drilled another MAC round into the wrecked ship, just to make sure. The round touched off the _Wandering Pilgrim_'s plasma reactor, engulfing the ship's remnants in a blue ball of fire. Satisfied, the _Valiant_ broke off into high orbit to join its fellow UNSC ships.

_**Freedom**_

"I am glad to report," Joshua beamed at his regained holographic avatar, "that the engine and Slipspace drive are operational again, as well as our sensor systems."

"I'm hearing a 'but' coming on..." Rogers sighed.

"But the bug is still rendering our advanced weaponry inoperable, and the shields are only at a fraction of their strength. If we are caught in a full scale battle, our odds of success are slim."

"Uh, sir?" The communications officer turned from his console. "Our scans show that the Covenant ship we destroyed sent off a signal before crashing into the planet's surface."

Rogers had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Oh please, please don't let there be-

_Two_ Covenant battle groups popped out of Slipspace. A picket of three frigates on one side of the system and two cruisers on the other. Apparently, the ship they had destroyed had friends. Lots of them. Rogers had no doubt that if the _Freedom _was fully operational, it could handle the incoming ships. Unfortunately, the ship was barely in a state to even fly. The _Valiant _and _Fidelity_ wasted no time in intercepting the three Covenant frigates, unleashing missiles and MAC rounds in an effort to draw their fire, but they couldn't stop the frigates and cruisers from firing their plasma weapons at the _Freedom_.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Rogers yelled. "Get this ship moving and out of here!"

The _Freedom_ banked hard to avoid the Covenant plasma torpedoes. The Covenant warships continued to fire out bright spears of energy in an attempt to take down the Human ship.

"Joshua!" Rogers yelled, clinging to his bridge seat. "How long until we get out of the gravity well?"

"Let's just say I'm powering up the shields now." Joshua said, destroying a knight in his chessboard avatar.

An explosion rocked the ship. One of the plasma torpedoes had found its mark.

"Energy levels are dropping." Joshua announced, swapping his chessboard for checkers. "I doubt our shields will hold for the next hit."

"How about diverting power?"

"The only remaining source of power are the engines, but if we divert power from them, we won't have enough to attain the necessary velocity for a Slipspace jump."

Rogers glanced at his tactical display again. The _Valiant_ and _Fidelity_ were doing their best to hold the Covenant picket formation, but that meant he still had to deal with two cruisers with a ship that had multiple core systems failing in succession. These were not good odds.

However, before Rogers even had a chance to give another order, a fusillade of MAC rounds fired from nowhere, shredding apart the Covenant formation. Rogers blinked in surprise. In some sort of sick coincidence, or divine intervention, another UNSC battlegroup had chosen the almost the _exact same_ random jump coordinates he had. He looked on as the fresh reinforcements began toengage the confused enemy fleet.

Meanwhile, belowdecks, Scohar smiled. They were certainly being watched by a god, or gods, or whatever controlled the fate of this universe.

Sam and Leo were slightly less philosophical, and a lot more worried about their ship staying in one piece.

"I think we should find some cover." Leo said quickly.

"Yeah." Sam nodded.

"Hold it right there you three!" A stern and familiar voice echoed through the hall.

Leo and Scohar both quickly saluted as Captain Karla Wellings strode in through the hall. Sam, hesitated for a second and then saluted along with Leo and Scohar.

"Sarge?" Leo asked in disbelief, seeing Paccone following Karla. "What are you doing here?"

"What, him?" Karla pointed at Paccone, "I'm a Captain, he's a Sergeant. He'll do any damn thing I tell him to do."

"You wish." Paccone said glumly.

"Right, well, I suggest you get your weapons ready, boys and girls." Karla looked out the viewport, and saw one of the Covenant cruisers getting closer to the _Freedom_, despite the savage crossfire between both UNSC battlegroups. Karla had been in enough space engagements to know what was going to come next. "It's time to get up close and personal with some Covvies."


	3. Evisceration!

Chapter 3: Evisceration!

**Covenant Cruiser _Holy Vigilance_**

Fleet Master Tazin Mazanee muttered a silent curse to himself. If there was a Hell, then it was too good that hot headed fool Paken. Tazin responded to the urgent distress call sent by his scout ship, though it was obvious that Paken had led Tazin's entire force into a trap. Tazin had originally posted the young upstart on the scout ship in hopes that the duty would teach him a lesson about being overly aggressive, but in retrospect, doing wasn't such a great idea.

Tazin held onto his console as another direct hit shook the entire cruiser. If there was one bright gem in this quickly growing pile of grunt feces, it was the discovery of that curious heretic ship in orbit around the nearest planet. Before losing contact, Paken's ship described the heretic vessel as having _energy shielding_, which was supposedly technology beyond anything these filthy little vermin were capable of. Tazin also knew that his battle group, surprised and outnumbered, was done for. But maybe if he could break through to that new ship, he could destroy it, and maybe put a dent in their resolve.

_**Freedom**_

Rogers looked on in barely concealed amazement as the unexpected UNSC reinforcements unleashed their fury upon the surprised Covenant battle group. The screens immediately counted two destroyers, three frigates, and six gunships as well as swarms of Longsword fighter craft. The three Covenant frigates didn't even stand a chance. They were shredded apart by MAC rounds as they tried to readjust their positions.

However, that still left those two Covenant cruisers bearing down of them from the other direction.

"Joshua." Rogers turned to the AI, "I don't care what you do, or how you do it. Get our weapons and shields working properly again or we're going to be fried to a crisp.

"The visual description wasn't necessary."

"Weapons," Rogers continued, "order all batteries with firing solutions to launch missiles. Lets check their advance! Deploy our Longswords and get them into attack positions. They might send Seraphs in, and if they do, I want them to be denied!"

The bridge crew yelled out acknowledgments and began to get to work. Missiles poured out of the _Freedom_'s batteries, pummeling the advancing cruisers. One of the cruisers backed off under the withering fire, but the second one plowed through the missile screen. Suddenly, the comm buzzed to life.

"This is Captain Mahoney of the _Solar Flare_. I assume you're in need of assistance?"

"It's a gross understatement to say that I'm glad to see you." Rogers laughed. "You have my full permission to send these bastards back to Hell."

"Our pleasure, Captain Rogers. Just hold out for a few more seconds and we'll be able to support you."

Sirens began to wail as plasma beams impacted the _Freedom_'s shields. The golden energy screen flickered for a few seconds, and then faded away.

"Sir! Shields are down! Zero percent!" One of the crewmen yelled, voice shaking with fear.

"Joshua," Rogers gritted his teeth, "How strong is the armor on this ship?"

"The prototype armor alloy on the _Freedom_ is rated to withstand approximately seventeen seconds of sustained plasma fire, give or take."

"I'm not liking what I'm hearing, Joshua." Rogers groaned as the _Freedom_ fired a return volley at the cruiser.

"If it's any consolation, the armor of a standard UNSC warship is only rated to survive two seconds of sustained plasma fire."

"I can already feel the relief wash over me." Rogers snorted sarcastically. He braced himself as a plasma torpedo impacted the starboard side of the _Freedom_. The armor plating began to glow white hot, but otherwise maintained structural integrity. "Now have you gotten anything to actually work on this flying junk heap?"

Joshua's avatar flickered as a queen was knocked off the board. "You'll be glad to hear that the particle beam system is now functional."

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Rogers felt as if something were finally right with the universe. He looked down to his Weapons ensign and said, "Congratulations Ensign, you have the honor of firing the first shot."

The young ensign smiled like a kid getting his very first bicycle. "Yes sir!"

_**Holy Vigilance**_

Tazin gazed in unmitigated surprise as a beam of blue-white energy lanced out from the heretic ship and popped his forward shield like a bubble. Tazin braced himself for the impact, and realized that the prow of his ship, as well as two of his plasma turrets, was nothing but a charred pile of slag. How could the humans possess such a weapon?

Tazin suddenly had the ugly feeling that there was something more to this ship than he originally thought. Unfortunately, the _Holy Vigilance_ was in no condition to continue fighting due to his horrendous miscalculation, and as he looked at his command screen saw the _Eternal_ _Flame_ breaking up under enemy fire, though not before taking down a human destroyer and two gunships. Tazin realized that he had only one option: board the human ship and attempt to take it or destroy it, to prevent it from being used against any more Covenant vessels.

"All crew!" Tazin yelled through the ship's intercom, "Power up gravity beams and our dropships! All available troops report to the docking stations! Pilot, get us as close to that carrier as possible! We will be boarding it! Glory and death!"

Already, Tazin could hear the dull cheers and whoops of battle hungry Covenant troops, ready and willing to slaughter anything that got in their way.

_**Freedom**_

Rogers narrowed his eyes when he saw multiple blips appear on the sensor screen. "Ensign, what are those?"

"Unknown, but the computer suggests that they might be dropships."

"Shit." Rogers saw the Covenant cruiser closing in, and he immediately knew what was going to happen. "They're going to board us. Get every Longsword and weapons battery you can and tell them to shoot down as many dropships as they can. We have nowhere near enough active Marines onboard to repel a full scale boarding action."

The _Freedom_'s hull shuddered as over a hundred autocannons and gauss turrets opened up on the incoming shoals of dropships. Dozens were cut down in the hail of fire, and still more were destroyed by opportunistic Longswords, but several dropships were able to slip through the wall of fire, and managed to get close enough to the _Freedom_ so the ship's weapons batteries couldn't get a firing solution. Like ticks, the dropships began latching onto several points throughout the ship using miniature gravity beams, and the troops within were began the arduous task of breaking through the ship's first line of defense, it's hull.

Rogers glanced at the blueprint of the _Freedom_ and saw red markers indicating Covenant breach points. Already, what few active Marines Rogers had were being deployed to firing positions. Rogers smiled as he saw how Joshua masterfully directed them. The AI knew that it would've been impossible for the Marines to guard against every breach point on the ship, and instead pulled them back to vital chokepoints and positions that the Covenant would have no choice but to move through, as well as sealing all alternate routes. This tactic helped concentrate Marine firepower, which could give them some edge over the invaders. Unfortunately, the one weak spot in the ship's defense was the freight airlock on Deck D. The outer airlock chamber was large enough for the Covenant to mass a sizeable invasion force which could push into the ship all at once, rather than being unloaded piecemeal in various locations by individual dropships. Rogers looked at the blueprint again and grimaced at the fact that there were only five Marines on that entire deck. They were already deployed in a position in front of the airlock entrance, and Rogers hoped that they could hold that airlock until reinforcements could arrive.

Rogers looked back at the command screen and saw the Covenant cruiser pulling up to their starboard side. It's hull was pockmarked with missile craters from the approaching UNSC reinforcements. Rogers knew that one good MAC round would break that cruiser into pieces, but being this close, none of the UNSC warships wanted to risk missing and hitting the _Freedom_.

"Joshua, blow that bastard out of the sky."

Three particle beams lanced out and sheared through the Covenant cruiser, slicing the ship into three neat pieces, marking the end of the _Holy Vigilance_'s long and proud career.

As soon as the particle beams cut off, the lights in the bridge began to flicker, and sections of the ship started to black out.

"Joshua, what's going on?" Rogers asked, glancing nervously at the blank command screens.

"It's my fault, sir." Joshua's electronic voice floated through the bridge. "With so many power intensive systems operating at the same time, managing the ship's energy levels without overloading the reactors is proving a chore. The previous program in place has proven inadequate the handle stress, so I'm doing everything manually."

AI computer programs having to perform tasks "manually". Rogers grinned at the irony.

"Oh moment, Captain," Joshua buzzed for a moment, "Captain Mahoney sends his congratulations on destroying the cruiser, and is wondering if you need assistance."

"Yes, tell him to send any Marines he can spare to help us repel these Covenant boarders."

"Acknowledged, sending the requests now." Joshua was silent for a moment. "Would you like to play a game?"

**D Deck Freight Airlock**

Tazin Mazanee muttered a funeral prayer under his breath as he saw his beloved ship destroyed by the guns of the heretic ships. These humans will pay, and Tazin made a promise to himself that he would personally oversee the cleansing of this ship. With him, he head nearly fifty Elites, several squads of Grunts and Jackals, and even a Hunter pair ready for battle, and even more were waiting outside for their chance to enter. The final obstacle now was the inner airlock hatch, which despite his efforts, would not open. Tazin growled and called for an Engineer.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the airlock, five Marines were what stood between the airlock and the rest of the _Freedom_. Their tags identified them as Lt. Karla Wellings, Sgt. Ronald Paccone, and Privates Samantha Wellings, Leonardo Carter, and William Scohar.

Karla grimaced as she took another look at the rather ragtag defense set up in this sector. There were piles of cargo containers and spare titanium-A armor plates acting as a makeshift barricade, and only five Marines to defend it. Paccone was armed with a M260 Light Machine Gun, a heavier version of a standard battle rifle, except if fired .30 caliber rounds belt fed from a 150 round box clip. Karla wondered where in the world he managed to get one, and quickly decided it was best not to know. The rest of the Marines, including her, were armed with the standard battle rifle with grenades. However, Karla also had Holy's plasma sword with her, and Sam had her sniper rifle.

"They're sure taking their sweet time." Paccone grumbled, shifting his machine gun around. "Maybe they decided to quit and go home."

"Sure." Karla snorted, "and then Santa Claus will come and give everybody presents for scaring the big bad Covenant."

At the far end of the hall, a small dot on the airlock hatch began to glow orange and melt. Steam shot out from the heated steel, and the dot slowly started to expand. It looked as if the Covenant were trying to get through with some sort of plasma cutting beam. It looked like it would only be a few more seconds until the hatch would be weak enough to break through.

Karla suddenly jumped when she heard an ear-piercing _CRACK!_ Something suddenly burst through the hatch, leaving a tiny hole in the melting steel. Everybody turned and stared at Sam, holding her smoking sniper rifle.

"What?" She shrugged. "Something had to break the tension."

Paccone grinned, Karla shook her head, Leo sighed, and Scohar shrugged.

Tazin shoved the dead Engineer aside. A bullet had gone through the hatch it was cutting through and blew out what Tazin believed to be its brains. He called over the two Hunters and gave them quick instructions. One of them nodded, raised its shield, and began using it as an improvised battering ram, slamming into the weakened hatch again and again. Tazin looked around and saw that his troops were anxious for battle. A Grunt to his left vomited in fear, the disgusting remains of its last meal spattering over the deck. He could hear a fellow Elite chanting a litany of battle, praying that the Prophets would look over him. The litany was infectious, and soon, every Elite in the airlock was singing in one beautiful, glorious choir.

Sam cocked her head curiously and asked, "Hey guys, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Leo kept his eyes on the hatch, which was slowly buckling under whatever force was trying to ram it down.

"I don' t know," Sam said, straining to hear the mysterious sound, "It sounds like... singing."

"I'll give them something to sing about." Paccone said, patting his M260.

Finally, the hatch just couldn't take any more punishment. The metal squealed and popped open, revealing a full-sized Hunter charging down the hallway.

"Fire!" Paccone yelled.

The Hunter barely flinched as bullets bounced and ricocheted off of its armor. The tough material was strong enough to withstand shrapnel, bullets, plasma weaponry, and even explosives. However, its armor may have well been made out of paper as far as a Covenant plasma sword was concerned.

Hiding behind a bulkhead, Karla leapt out in front of the Hunter and drove the powered blade straight into the Hunter's gut and slashed outwards, eviscerating the alien. Tough as it was, not even the Hunter's physiology could handle the massive trauma the plasma sword dealt. Karla, confident that the Hunter was as good as dead, pulled the sword out of its gut and shot down several Grunts with her pistol. The Hunter groaned and fell flat onto the deck plating, still trying to hold its seared guts in.

Meanwhile, the main Covenant attack faltered at the opening of the hatch. The front ranks of the force, which were mostly made up of Grunts and Jackals, were shredded to pieces by the storm of bullets. Karla knew that they had to keep the Covenant force bottled up at the hatch, where they couldn't use their advantage of superior numbers. If they managed to get past, the Marines would be in a whole world of trouble.

Tazin roared in anger, directing more of his troops to push into the gap. Unfortunately, his forces were getting bottled up at the hatch. The opening was choked with the dead bodies of Grunts and Jackals, and the Grunts still in the front of the formation refused to move any farther. The second Hunter, itching to fight and to be reunited with its bond brother, plowed straight through the cowardly Grunts, crushing them or knocking them aside. Tazin and the other Elites began piling up behind the Hunter, using it as a mobile shield to protect them from the enemy fire.

Karla saw what the Covenant were trying to do, and turned to Paccone.

"Scohar! Carter! Grenades! Behind that Hunter!"

Both Marines nodded, pulled out frag grenades, primed them, and threw them down the hall. The grenades clattered along the decking and rolled under and behind the Hunter's feet before exploding. Five Elites were instantly disintegrated in the blast, and the shockwave knocked the Hunter down. That was enough for Paccone to get a clear line of fire down the hall. Normally, it would take half or even a full battle rifle clip to take down an Elite's shields, but the M260 LMG's heavy .30 caliber rounds punched through the energy shielding easily. Elites screamed in rage and pain as they were cut down in the narrow corridors with nowhere to go.

Karla, with her pistol in one hand and Holy's plasma sword in the other, charged the Covenant that had managed to survive Paccone's withering fire. She shot a Jackal three times through the head, sliced through the chest of an Elite, and pulled off an elegant S-swing that left two Elites falling to the floor in pieces. Karla looked up when she heard a terrifying roar echo throughout the hall. The second Hunter, having regained its senses, had found the eviscerated corpse of its bond brother and was in a bloodrage. The bounded straight down the hall heading for the nearest target, Karla. Paccone yelled and unloaded machine gun rounds into the Hunter in a vain attempt to draw its attention, but there was no stopping it from trying to trample Karla. Karla however, had different ideas. She ducked as the Hunter swung its fuel rod cannon like a club and rolled under the Hunter, ending straight behind it. Then, with Holy's plasma sword singing in her hand, Karla drove the blade straight into the Hunter's back. The creature screamed and tried to turn and face her, but Karla was faster. She yanked the sword out of the Hunter back and sliced through its legs. The Hunter still trying turn around, fell awkwardly onto his back, which gave Karla the chance to administer the final killing blow straight through its chest piece and into its heart. The Hunter shuddered and lay still.

Meanwhile, Sam was busy picking off Elites as they tried to barge their way into the ship. With such a long and narrow hallway, there really wasn't much need to aim well, and Sam kept a mental count to herself of how many Elites she downed. So far, she was up to fourteen. She took aim at the next Elite, but her aim was spoiled by a flash of blue. Sam blinked and looked again, and was astonished to see the Elite fall over with a smoking gash across its chest.

"Hey! That was my kill!" Sam yelled in annoyance as Karla cut her way through a pack of Grunts.

"Just keep shooting!" Karla grunted as she pulled the sword from a dead Grunt. Suddenly, she saw a blue glow at the edge of her vision, spun, and parried a plasma sword strike just in time. She looked up and stared into the face of an Elite, obviously the leader of the attack force.

"Such a sacred weapon does not deserve to be desecrated by your filthy hands." The Elite growled, and lunged, aiming its plasma sword straight for Karla's heart.


	4. Band Aids Would Be Nice

Chapter 4: Band Aids would be Nice

Karla knew she barely had seconds to act. She managed to parry the Elite's thrusting attack, but it wasn't good enough. Karla was only able to deflect the blade enough to miss her heart, but not her body. The Elite's blade cut into her arm, just between her shoulder and tricep. Karla winced in pain and tried to ignore the smell of burning fabric and meat and swung her sword out at the Elite, forcing it to back off. Karla knew that in a fight like this, the Elite had the upper hand. Even though she knew how to use the plasma sword, in terms of technique or fighting style, the Elite would pretty much have her beat to dust in that category, not to mention the Elite's super strength.

The Elite flinched as something struck its chest like a hammer. The Elite staggered back, glowing blue as its shields tried to absorb the sudden attack.

"Damnit!" Sam cursed as she ejected her spent clip. Of all the times for her to miss her mark, NOW had to be the time. Instead of the headshot she was hoping for, the round went low and was deflected off the Elite's torso shielding. "Leo, cover me!"

Leo got up and started firing at the approaching mass of Covenant. He kept up the steady rate of fire until his rifle jammed. In horror, Leo stood there trying to eject the jammed round. Paccone reached up and yanked Leo down just as a volley of plasma rounds passed through the spot Leo had been standing just seconds before.

"Carter! When your gun jams in a firefight, don't stand in the open and play around with it!" Paccone yelled as he lobbed a grenade down the hall.

"Sorry sir!" Leo cried as he took out the jammed round and reloaded.

"I like you better alive, Carter." Paccone yelled back.

Leo hesitated, "I- I do too sir."

"Good, keep it that way!" Paccone shredded a pack of Jackals apart with his machine gun. "What were you trying to do anyways?"

"It's the Captain!" Leo pointed down the hall. "She's in trouble!"

Paccone took a quick glance down the hall and saw Karla, injured by the looks of it, squaring off with a full sized and armed Elite. He cursed and leapt over the makeshift barricade of crates.

"Sir?" Leo started to climb over as well.

"No!" Paccone waved Leo back down. "Stay back here and keep the fire rate up! I'll take care of this!"

Leo climbed back down and started firing again. Scohar ran up next to him and said, "I'll take care of it Leo, you go and make sure Samantha is safe."

"What?" Leo stared blankly at Scohar for a second. "What're you talking about?"

"There." Scohar pointed down the hall. "She's moving down with the sergeant."

Leo looked and saw Sam slowly moving down, trying to get a clear line of fire at the Elite her sister was dueling. Unfortunately, she was moving farther down the hall, leaving her more vulnerable to the charging Covenant. Like Paccone before him, Leo cursed and leapt over the barricade.

Meanwhile, the fight between Karla and Tazin wasn't going so well. Karla was already covered in cuts and burns from near misses from the Elite's attacks, while Tazin himself didn't even have a scratch on him. Karla barely had time to parry or block the Elite's savage strikes, and her strength was quickly waning. There was no way she would be able to outfight an Elite like this, especially since it was so much stronger. Finally, Karla just couldn't keep up anymore. With one brutal blow, Tazin knocked Karla's sword out of line and cut in across her abdomen. Karla couldn't remember if she screamed or not, but she did remember blacking out for a second from the pain. Looking down, she saw that only the very tip of the plasma sword had actually touched her, but it left a long, shallow, and seared cut across her stomach and ending just beneath her right breast. The next thing Karla could remember was the Elite grabbing her head and slamming it against the wall of the hallway. Karla could hear an earth shattering crack, though she couldn't tell whether it was the helmet or her skull that was doing the cracking. She could also feel the heat of the plasma sword hovering just behind her neck as the Elite prepared to execute her.

"You shall burn for your crimes, witch." Tazin snarled. This was the creature that had slaughtered so many of his comrades. "By all that is sacred-"

Before he even had a chance to finish, something large and heavy landed on him. Tazin yelped in surprise and dropped his plasma sword, inadvertently sparing Karla's life. The blow also sent him off balance, losing his grip on Karla. Dazed and confused, Karla spun around and saw Paccone wrestling with the Elite. The sergeant was on top of the surprised Elite, bashing away at its helmet with the butt end of his machine gun. The blows from the heavy weapon were so powerful, that Tazin's shields failed, and he took several of the hits in the face. Enraged, the Elite grabbed Paccone and threw him aside like a rag doll. Paccone hit the wall and slumped down the ground, stunned. Satisfied, Tazin turned to finish off Karla, but was caught off guard when he felt something spear through his belly. Karla had used the distraction to pick up fallen sword and skewer Tazin. Using the last reserves of her strength, Karla turned her thrust into a brutal uppercut swing that cut Tazin open from waist to chin. The burned corpse slumped down the blood soaked decking, and Karla, energy spent, collapsed with it.

Sam saw Karla kill the Elite, and nearly cheered out loud, but seeing her sister collapse on the floor like that destroyed any relief she might have felt. If only she could reach her-

"Sam! Watch out!" Leo cried.

Strangely enough, Sam knew the attack was coming long before Leo warned her. Sam stopped and slid on the floor, and saw an Elite's fist pass by just inches above her head, but seemed to be moving slower than she thought it would be. Sam then fluidly turned her dodging move into an attack, knocking the Elite's feet out from under it. The alien roared in surprise and fell flat on its face. Before it even had a chance to blink, Sam was already on her feet, and had her rifle aimed point blank at its head.

Sam gave a sickeningly innocent smile as she pulled the trigger. "Bang, you're dead."

"Sam." Leo gaped, "How the hell did you do that?"

"Do what?" Sam asked as she ducked down behind a supply crate.

Leo popped off a three round burst that stopped two Grunts in their tracks. 'That move you pulled off that Elite. I've never seen you move that fast. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen _anybody_ move that fast."

Sam shrugged and fired her rifle again, blowing off the head of another Elite.

By then, the fight was already over. Reinforcement Marines from the other UNSC ships had finally arrived, slaughtering the invading Covenant from the rear. It took only a few minutes for the surviving raiders to either be killed off or captured. Sam and Leo sighed in relief and let the incoming Marines pass them by. A medic took a quick cursory check on them, but seeing that they weren't injured, followed his comrades further into the ship. Other Marines however were toeing dead Covenant bodies, picking up fallen weapons, and collecting other souvenirs. Sam looked curiously at Scohar, who had picked up one of her spent shell casings and pocketed it. Before she could even say anything, Scohar smiled.

"For luck." He replied.

Paccone meanwhile had finally regained his senses and rushed over to where Karla's body was laying. Afraid that she was dead, Paccone reached down to check for a pulse.

"If you think this will be a good excuse for you to sleep with me." Karla coughed, "You're out of luck."

Paccone grinned and picked Karla up, slinging her undamaged arm around his shoulder. "You'll be all right, you've taken worse hits."

"Mostly because of you." Karla scowled, more so in pain rather than agitation.

"Those are some pretty nasty cuts. You'll probably need a band-aid or something."

"It's a wonder why they haven't made you head of the medics." Karla winced as a medic sprayed some biofoam on her wounds. "Why is it that whenever I end up in a battle with you, you never get a scratch, yet I'm always the one that almost ends up dead?"

"Oh come on." Paccone scoffed. "You can't possibly think that _I'm_ responsible for all this. Besides, it's not like your wounds are that life-threatening anyway."

The medic momentarily stopped treating Karla. "Actually sir-"

"Hey, did I give you permission to speak?" Paccone pointed menacingly at the medic. "Just do whatever you do, slap on band-aids or whatever, and I'll not make any degrading jokes about your mother."

"Ignore him, he's just a total ass." Karla said.

"I've noticed, ma'am."

"Well, I'll leave you in the care of this fine, upstanding doctor." Paccone gingerly set Karla down on the ground, and turned around. "Hey! Lovebirds! You two still alive?"

"Yes sir!" Sam and Leo replied in unison.

"And what about you, newbie?"

"Still in one piece, sir." Scohar said.

"That's great." Paccone smiled and marched down the hall. "Now lets find what sorry excuse this ship has for a bar and take it before these wannabes do."

"What about the Captain?" Sam asked, careful not to use Karla's actual name.

"Don't worry about me." Karla's voice was thin and weak, but still audible from across the hall. "Like whatyour sorry excuse for a sergeant said before, I've taken worse hits."

Once she said those words, Karla felt a sharp prick as the medic injected a dose of painkiller in her arm. She suddenly began to feel very drowsy and her vision began to fade...

**Bridge**

"I'm grateful for the help you've provided us, Captain." Rogers looked at Mahoney's cheerful face on the comm screen. "It's a pity that three of your ships aren't here to celebrate our success."

"They'll be well remembered." Mahoney nodded in silent reverence, "They died for a cause they believed in."

Rogers was silent for moment, and then continued, "I understand you received a maximum priority recall order from FLEETCOM as well."

"That's right. Wasn't too happy about it though. We had to abandon a perfectly goodAI production facility. We had to dismantle the equipment and salvage as many AIs as we could. We're now on our final jump, as per the Cole Protocol."

"Mind if we hitch a ride with you then, Captain Mahoney?"

Mahoney chuckled. "By all means, the more the merrier."

Suddenly, Joshua chimed in. "Captain Mahoney, you mentioned that you have extra AIs?"

"That's right." Mahoney frowned, trying to figure out where the AI as going with this.

"I believe they may yet have a use." Joshua hesitated for a moment, and then continued glumly, "Though my abilities as an AI are great, I must admit that managing the systems on this ship myself are proving... difficult. My processor speed has slowed by 20 percent and memory usage is 60 percent larger than I have expected. I would need extra... assistance in order to keep this ship running at maximum efficiency."

Rogers couldn't believe what he was hearing. In all his years of Navy service, he had never heard an AI ask for help, much less admit that it wasn't up the job. He suspected that the engineers who built this ship sold their souls to the devil to create such a ghoulish operating system.

"By all means." Mahoney shrugged. "We've got a cargo bay full of them. Might as well use a few. How many do you need?"

Joshua paused for a moment as he crunched numbers. "Three would suffice. I'm sending over specifications right now."

Mahoney nodded. "I'll see to it that they are sent and installed right away."

The image then flickered and went black as they cut the connection. Rogers looked up and said, "So all this time, while you were looking so cool, you were in fact up to your neck running this hellhole?"

"I thought I could handle the extra capacity." Joshua said glumly. "But the fact is that the energy calculations and maneuvers required to keep the reactors and systems in check require at least 3 modified class-C AIs to handle the strain. I could easily do the job myself, but it would sacrifice many milliseconds of precious processing time."

Efficiency down to the microsecond. That's what AIs were all about. Rogers sighed. "Joshua, contact the AIs on the other ships and make sure that our jump coordinates are synchronized. I don't want to exit Slipspace right on top of our fellow shippmates."

"Right away Captain."

"Oh, and thaw out our Marines before we jump. I have an ugly feeling that we'll need them when we reach the other side."

"Consider it done."

**Cryo Bay, Cryo Tube #536**

Tarin Richards, like so many other Marines, never particularly liked cryo hibernation. Many Marines were usually unnerved at the fact of being frozen, others being enclosed in such a tight space. Still others were afraid that once they went to sleep, they would never wake up. Valid arguments all, but what Tarin really didn't like was because of the dreams.

They were always the same. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see the forests of her homeworld burning, the fires surrounding her. No matter what she did, no matter where she ran, the malevolent fires followed her, destroying everything touched, everything she ever cared about, and then something powerful grabbed the back of her neck and began pulling her away...

Tarin's eyes snapped open, and in reflex, grabbed the dark figure in front of her by the throat and tackled it to the ground.

"Son of a bitch!" She heard the figure cry. "Tarin, it's me!"

Tarin's vision finally cleared, and she realized that the figure she had tackled was Williams. She quickly recoiled away from him, and remembered that she was completely nude because of the cryo hibernation. She turned away so Williams wouldn't see her blushing.

"Wow, not much of a morning person, huh?" Williams joked nervously. He was wearing his Marine uniform. Obviously, he was revived well before her.

"Shutup and get me some clothes." Tarin growled, mentally adding another reason why she hated cryo-hibernation.

Williams gave a quick, casual salute and made his retreat before Tarin could abuse him any further. Tarin reached over and grabbed a towel to cover herself and to rub off the frost that still stubbornly held onto her skin. As she did so, she thought she heard a familiar voice echo from the hall outside.

"Private Wellings, you may very well be the best shot I've ever had the pleasure of working with, as well as being the cutest looking one."

Tarin then heard a groan that she suspected was from the Captain's sister, "Sarge..."

She quickly opened the door and glanced up and down the hall, but nothing was there.

"Paccone..." She muttered to herself before closing the door.


	5. Ashes and Memories

Chapter 5: Ashes and Memories

**Infirmary**

Tarin, now fully clothed and refreshed, strode into the ship's infirmary. Last she knew, Karla was in here after receiving wounds from the previous battle. She took one step inside and shivered as she looked around. Like all infirmaries, the room was a stark, antiseptic white. Beds lined the walls, and good number of them had occupants, mostly Marines and crewmen who were wounded in the recent fighting. Tarin noted that most were asleep or unconscious. Some were laughing and joking with each other, while others just stared into the ceiling, as if in a state of shock. These Marines were the lucky ones. Twenty Marines and twelve crewmen died defending the ship.

Suddenly, there was a commotion at the end of the room, and Tarin saw that her captain was in a heated argument with the ship's doctor.

"These wounds would normally take weeks to fully heal!" The doctor complained to Karla, who was busy picking up her gear and completely ignoring him. "It's barely been three days and now you want leave?"

"Like I said," Karla said coolly, "I feel perfectly fine."

The doctor sighed and shook his head. "I don't know why I let you do this."

"Because, Doctor Pennert," Karla grinned, "You know for a fact that I can survive pretty much whatever the Covvies can throw at me."

Doctor Pennert sighed again. "I've been patching you up since you were in diapers, and still you manage to amaze me with the amount of punishment you can handle."

Tarin quickly saluted saluted as Karla walked up to her. Karla returned the salute, and they both marched out of the infirmary.

"You know that man, captain?" Tarin asked Karla after leaving the infirmary.

"Hah, when you have a father like mine lieutenant, a lot of people tend to know you. So what's this visit about?"

"I'm just here to inform you that the company is assembled and prepped, awaiting your orders."

"And what else?"

Tarin hesitated. "That's about all I had to tell."

"Ah, you can't fool me." Karla continued walking down the hall. Tarin had to increase her pace to catch up. "Nobody would make the effort to come all the way to the infirmary unless it was something important, plus I can tell when one of my subordinates is lying."

"It's nothing-"

"Oh, come on, Tarin. You almost never speak a word. I'm actually enjoying this little conversation we're having here."

"It's kind of personal." Tarin said quietly.

"Well, there's nobody here." Karla looked around the hall. "Might as well tell me what's on your mind before we turn the corner and bump into a bunch of shady Marines who live for nothing less than digging up dirt on their superior officers."

"Well..." Tarin bit her lip. Karla looked at her and noted that even though Tarin was an officer, and a very composed one, Tarin was still just a kid, just like a lot of the Marines serving in these late war years. Hell, she was only two years older than Sam.

"I was just wondering what exactly your relationship with Paccone is." Tarin said very quickly and quietly.

If Karla was taken aback by the comment, she didn't show anything. "Well, you'd better ask Williams for the story, I've told him about it before. Or better yet, ask Paccone himself. I'm pretty sure he'd be glad to brag about it."

"You won't tell me?"

"I'm in no mood to, nor am I under any obligation to tell you anything." Karla said calmly. "Anything else?"

"What's your personal opinion of him?"

"Firebloom."

"What?" Tarin was dumbfounded at the answer.

"Sorry, I guess not a lot of people know what that is." Karla said, abashed. "It's this very special root that grows on a few planets, and it's famous for its extremely strong and tangy flavor."

"Can you explain further, captain? I'm afraid I'm still not seeing it."

"Well, when I first tasted Firebloom, I thought it was the best thing ever to happen to me. Unfortunately, Firebloom is also notoriously spicy, and I eventually stopped eating it because I just couldn't stand it any more." Karla paused for a moment, as if recalling old times, "Weeks later though, I started to thinking 'Boy, wouldn't be great to have some Firebloom again?' I guess you can say the same thing about Paccone. You can love him and hate him, but eventually you come to accept it all."

Tarin raised an eyebrow. "Are you admitting that you still have feelings toward him then, captain?"

"You know what, totally disregard what I just said. Those painkillers Pennert gave me are making me feel dizzy."

Tarin nodded and didn't say anything else.

**Bridge**

"The new AIs have been installed, and are already formatting themselves to the ship's system." Joshua announced, his ego still somewhat deflated at having to rely upon other AIs.

Engineers had been working tirelessly in the past couple of days to add in the new AI cores to the ship. Thanks to the ingenuity of the engineers, they had managed to jury rig the three new cores in the aft section of the ship near the nuclear reactors. Though they were all Class C AIs, significantly lesser quality than a Class A, they could still perform millions of calculations a second, and were adequate for the task, though the lacked a lot of the personality that made higher grade AIs so... human, if you could say that.

"I hope I don't have to memorize any of their names. Remembering the names of my kids is tough enough." Rogers smiled. He already knew the three new AIs would be running in the background, managing the ship's maintenance and power distribution systems, leaving Joshua free to operate the ship's active and combat systems.

"They are called Melchior, Balthasar, and Casper, though I severely doubt you will be seeing much of them."

Rogers grinned at the agitation in Joshua's voice. "How's the status on our jump?"

"ETA to Earth is another two days." Joshua chimed. "Though I still don't understand why you lied to Mahoney about this being our last jump."

"Frankly, I'm more concerned about getting this ship to a decent shipyard for proper inspection. We won't be doing much good for the Human race if we happen to explode in the middle of a Slipspace jump. Besides, this isn't the first time the Cole Protocol has been...'broadly interpreted'."

"Point taken, sir. Care for a game of chess to pass the time?"

"I'd prefer a game where I actually stand a chance at winning." Rogers grinned. "Or we could ask one of those new AIs to join in."

"Absolutely not." Joshua pouted.

Rogers laughed.

**Recreation Lounge, Deck T**

"Wow, I've never seen a human being drink so much." Sam gaped as she looked across the room. Paccone was in the middle of a drinking contest against a rival Marine unit, and neither side looked as if they were going to back down soon."

"Dang." Leo looked as Paccone downed his seventh beer in seconds. "I have no idea what your sister ever saw in him."

"Wait," Sam narrowed her eyes. "What does Karla have to do with this?"

"Wait, you don't know?" Leo suddenly realized that Sam was not present when Paccone told his little love story.

_Oh crap. _He thought to himself.

"Uhhh, it's nothing." He said out loud.

"No no, it most definitely is something." Sam glared at Leo, who seemed to cringe at her very presence. "You'll tell me what this is all about, or I'll start breaking things, starting with your legs."

Leo tried to stall, hoping against all odds that Paccone would miraculously appear and save him from this predicament. "Uhhh, you're not going to like it."

"No, _you're_ not going to like it when I start getting pissed." Sam ignored the cheers in the background as Paccone's opponent finally collapsed from total inebriation.

"Fine." Leo said, finally breaking under the pressure. "Your sister and the Sarge... used to have a thing."

"A thing?"

"Yeah, a thing." Leo said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He wasn't quite prepared for the punch on the shoulder he received, which convinced to talk more. "They used to be a couple at some point in the past, and a very close one at that."

It took a few seconds for the comment for the words to sink in, and Leo found himself amused at the expression Sam's face.

"You mean to tell me that my _sister_ and my _commanding officer_ actually had..."

Leo nodded.

"Oh. My. GOD." Sam buried her face in her hands. "This is so embarrassing."

"Yeah, I was kind of freaked too when he told me about it."

Sam took a deep pull from her bottle and sucked the entire thing dry.

"I didn't know you drank." Leo said, slightly worried.

Sam sighed and set the empty bottle aside. "I didn't until now."

At that moment, Paccone sauntered in. Even though he had downed an insane amount of alcohol in an extremely short period of time, he didn't even show a sign that he was even slightly drunk.

"Sir, do you have a fantastically efficient liver, or are you actually a robot, because I'm pretty sure normal people would've have died drinking that much." Leo pushed a chair out for Paccone as he approached.

"Hah, you haven't seen anything yet." Paccone grinned as he sat down. "Wait till you see me go up against some Helljumpers. I'll show those wusses how someobody _really_ drinks. Hey, what's wrong with Wellings here?" Paccone looked curiously at Sam, who still had her face buried in her hands, trying to cope with the fact that her own sergeant could possibly be her brother-in-law.

Not a very pretty thought, as you can imagine.

"Ummm, you know that little story you told me back on Aeola in that 'town that is not be named'?" Leo asked.

"Oh." Paccone said, immediately catching on. "Well, this is pretty awkward."

"You're damn right it is." Sam glared at Paccone. "Did you know this when I got assigned to you?"

"Frankly, I thought you just happened to have the same last name... and hair... and eyes... and super sexy body..."

Leolaughed otu loudat the joke, prompting several nearby Marines to turn their heads to see what was so funny,and even Sam couldn't help but grin.

"If it makes you feel any better." Paccone continued. "You're like the little, annoying, whiny little girl I've never had."

Before Sam could say anything in response, somebody else spoke. "Excuse me sergeant, but do you think we could talk for a moment?"

The three Marines turned to see Lieutenant Tarin Richards standing at their table. None of them recalled her coming into the room. It was as she had just materialized out of thin air.

"Lieutenant." Paccone gave a casual salute. "What can I do for you this fine day?"

"We need to talk." Tarin said sternly.

Leo looked, and for the first time, he was surprised to see that the expression on Paccone's face was serious. Meanwhile, Sam was just staring curiously. Unlike Leo or Paccone, she didn't remember encountering Karla's taciturn and mysterious replacement.

"If you excuse me, kids." Paccone stood up. "I'm going to be going for a walk. If anybody asks for me, what do you tell them?"

"That you're on the Covenant homeworld wading through waist-deep piles of Covenant dead as you unleash your ungodly fury on their poor souls?" Sam recited wistfully.

"You're damn right I am." Paccone grinned and exited the room with Tarin.

"What was that all about?" Leo asked after Paccone had left.

Sam shrugged. "Heck if I know."

"So, what is this all about, Tarin?" Paccone asked as he followed Tarin down the hall.

Tarin stopped and leaned her back against he wall, looking uncertain as what to do next.

"Look," Paccone started to say, "I know you may have been extremely pissed at me when we last saw each other-"

"When you pulled me from the fires of my homeworld all those years ago," Tarin cut him off. "I... never really got the chance to thank you for it."

Paccone looked at her, and saw that Tarin's expression softened. Christ, she now looked exactly like that girl whose life he had saved so long ago, but just as quickly, she reverted back to that cold, emotionless mask that she had mastered so well.

"That's all I had to say. I'm afraid that all that familiarity we had that time is... well... gone now. I just want to set it straight that it's Lieutenant Richards and Sergeant Paccone from now on, and I think that's the way it should be."

Paccone nodded gravely. "Take care then, Lieutenant Richards. Don't forget _everything_ I tried to drill in your impressionable little head."

"I'll keep that in mind." Tarin turned to leave, but stopped for a moment and said, "Oh, and just remember that even though things with her may seem tough, it'll turn out all right in the end."

Paccone just stood there, even after Tarin was long gone. He was troubled with the thought of what she had to go through in order to deal with the trauma of watching her own world getting glassed in front of her very eyes , and what the meaning of that cryptic message was.

**K Deck**

Tarin strode down the hall, meandering through the Marines and crewmen milling about, performing their routine duties. This made Tarin think about what _her_ purpose was. The only job that she had ever felt comfortable doing was fighting and killing Covenant, and left little room for any kind of compassion or caring. Was this really her path, to keep killing until her enemies returned the favor?

"A rather interesting conversation."

Tarin stopped dead when she heard Karla's voice behind her.

"You heard?" It was more a statement rather than a question.

"I may be incredibly unconventional when it comes to dealing with my troops, but I would be a total failure as an officer if I had no idea what my subordinates were up to." Karla tapped the wall. "Besides, ship walls tend to have ears, especially when they're run by an AI."

"Your record is incredibly mysterious, Tarin." Karla eyed her lieutenant carefully. "There are a lot of gaps in it, along with a fair number of ONI-issue black highlighters. I was willing to overlook those discrepancies due to your marvelous combat record, but your apparent involvement with Sergeant Paccone has now made me want to ask some questions."

"I don't think I should tell you."

Karla shrugged. "Obviously you went through the trouble to getting my story out of Williams, I'd thought you'd want to regale him or me with tales from your own illustrious past."

Tarin sighed. It was bound to get out sooner or later anyways.

**Cenar**

**Dresdon System**

**Two years ago.**

_Sergeant Ronald Paccone dug his feet into the solid earth and breathed in fresh, unfiltered air. After spending weeks cooped up in an UNSC troop carrier, he was finally glad to be on solid ground, even if he was on a "crowd control" mission. Strategically, Cenar was not a very important world. It had a total population of about ten thousand people, and 90 of its land mass was basically forest. The only reason why the UNSC was interested was because intercepted Covenant transmission suggested that Cenar was the next target, and rather than fight, UNSC high command decided it was easier just to evacuate the planetary population. Paccone's current mission was to venture into the forests on the western edge of Cenar's largest continent and round up the civilians living in several small villages and towns._

_Personally, Paccone disliked babysitting. Much to his annoyance, he had heard that Karla was sent to Schizen Eight, a planet experiencing some of the heaviest fighting so far. The thought nagged at the back of his mind because Paccone couldn't stop thinking about her. He had always expected to see her face, or get chewed out by her for disobeying some obscure rule or regulation. As a result, he seemed to be more depressed and lost than before. Some of his squad members were worried that he would do something suicidal. Paccone thought that they were probably right. With Karla gone, he had nothing else to live for._

_Except for killing Covenant of course._

"_All right men, tighten it up there." Paccone said sternly. "There's no such thing as a lost Marine, and I do not intend to be proved wrong."_

_There were many rumors and stories about the vast woodland forests of Cenar. Many of the locals believed that the trees here had a life of their own, and actually moved every now and then, so going inside without losing your way was impossible. Even more rumors stated that only a select few "wood people" could navigate these supposedly living mazes, and yet even more rumors suggested that they were extremely skilled at combat and stealth._

_Paccone laughed these rumors off at first, but once he and his squad passed the treeline, he began to revise his opinions. So far, the forest always seemed to change whenever he looked at it. He would close his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again, there was this inexplicable feeling that something was different. If it weren't for the GPS signals being emitted by the orbiting warships, Paccone knew that navigation would be a far more difficult._

"_Sir," Paccone's point man, Penkala called in on the radio, "We've stumbled across something here and... well... you might want to see this."_

_Intrigued, Paccone made his way through a straggle of brush and stopped in his tracks as he saw what Penkala did._

"_Son of a bitch." He muttered._

_The ground was littered with dead Covenant. It wasn't surprising that the Covenant had forces on the planet, but it was surprising to see a large group of them dead. Paccone surveyed the area and estimated that there were about twenty four grunts and two Elites in the group. Roughly two squads. Paccone bent down and inspected the bodies closest to him. What intrigued, and creeped him out the most was the fact that there was so much blood everywhere. Usually, bullets left small, neat holes that didn't bleed profusely, and energy weaponry cauterized flesh, sealing ruptured blood vessels shut. Explosives didn't leave much of anything behind. All that left was blades or some kind of melee weapon, which Paccone found hard to believe, but the evidence was there. The Grunts had long gashes and cuts in areas that supposedly had large blood vessels, like the neck and armpit. Both Elites also showed similar wounds, though how somebody could kill an Elite hand to hand was far beyond him._

"_What could have possibly done this?" Paccone asked himself._

_Suddenly, the forest seemed to come to life, and the next thing Paccone knew, somebody had materialized in front of him, holding a silver knife to his throat._


	6. Hell on Cenar

Chapter 6: Hell on Cenar

_**Cenarian Forest**_

_In just a split second, Paccone put his reflexes honed by years of warfare to good use. He quickly reached out and grabbed his assailant's arm and twisted it around in an attempt to get the attacker into a chokehold. It was then that Paccone managed to get a clear view of the attacker's face, and he hesitated momentarily. She was just a girl in her late teens, probably no older than eighteen. The moments hesitation was enough for the girl to wriggle out of his grip, and she backed off, still gripping her knife carefully._

_Paccone had half a mind to shoot the kid when he heard the rest of his squad arming their rifles. He risked a quick glance and saw that they were surrounded by some kind of "wood men". That was the best description Paccone could make for them. There were about forty individuals shrouded in cloaks made to mimic the surrounding foliage, and most were armed with an assortment of melee weapons. A few carried scavenged human and Covenant weaponry. Paccone observed that the girl was only armed with her silver knife and a wooden stave strapped to her back. _

_Several tense seconds passed by as both sides waited for the other to make the first move. The standoff continued until a strong harsh voice called out through the trees._

"_Stand down, everybody! I said STAND DOWN!" An old, grizzled figure of a man materialized out of the brush, apparently unarmed and waving his arms at his comrades. Many of them hesitated but slowly began lowering their weapons. It was obvious that this man was the leader of their group._

"_Now then." The old man turned his gaze to the Marines, "Our fight is not with you, so you can lower your weapons. We have no reason to attack each other."_

_Paccone and his squad lowered their rifles, though Paccone still kept a wary eye on the girl in front of him. _

_The man laughed. "Don't worry about her. Tarin may be a little enthusiastic about combat, but she's bright enough to tell the difference between a human and Covenant!"_

_Paccone finally broke eye contact with Tarin and turned to meet the grizzled old man who introduced himself, "I'm Orlon, commander of the Cenar Irregulars."_

_Paccone shook his hand. "Sergeant Paccone of the UNMC."_

"_You can't believe how glad I am to see you, Sergeant." Orlon motioned to his small band of guerilla fighters. "We've been staging hit and runs on the Covenant for weeks ever since they landed their slimy feet on our planet, but we're running close to our limit on supplies and manpower. Now that the Marines are here, I'm sure we can start getting some much needed support."_

"_Wait." Paccone stopped Orlon. "I believe there's been a serious misunderstanding here."_

_Orlon raised his eyebrow curiously. "What?"  
_

"_We are not, contrary to what you may believe, the vanguard of a liberation or relief force." Paccone kept his gaze on Orlon, who still made no reaction. "We're here to oversee the evacuation of all civilians in this area. A Covenant armada is en route to this system as we speak, and in numbers that the current UNSC forces in orbit have no hope of repelling."_

_Orlon still made no visible reaction, but Paccone could tell that the other guerillas were shaken by the news. Most began shifting uncomfortably, and whispering unheard words to their comrades. _

"_I'm afraid we can't do that." Orlon finally replied._

"_Look, I know that you may want to stay here and fight for your world, but-"_

"_No," Orlon shook his head. "I think now you may be misunderstanding ME. We can't leave because there are still upwards of a thousand people gathered at a nearby sanctuary. Until we can reach them, evacuation is just simply not possible."_

_**Covenant Reconnaissance Outpost**_

_Relamee was disturbed by the reports being transmitted to him. Over the past few weeks, more and more of his patrols had been disappearing in the forest. Relamee never expected any heavy resistance on this backwater world, and his main purpose on the ground was to scout out targets that would be chosen as priority for plasma bombardment once the armada arrived. At first, Relamee thought that the patrols simply got lost and forgot to report in. It was very easy to get lost in these accursed woods. But then hours passed into days, days into weeks, and still no word from the missing patrols. Relamee finally suspected that there were indeed hostile forces prowling the area, and had already sent an assault force eighty strong to the are where the most recent disappearances had taken place. Relamee hoped that this move would finally resolve the situation once and for all._

_**Cenarian Forest**_

"_So, you're Tarin, right?" Paccone asked, glancing at the enigmatic girl walking at his side._

_The girl nodded without saying anything._

"_Don't mind her." Orlon spoke. "She doesn't speak much to her friends, much less complete strangers."_

"_So where'd she learn those moves?' Paccone asked. "I never knew she was there until she was right on top of me."_

"_My father taught me." Tarin said suddenly, catching both Orlon and Paccone by surprise._

"_Ah yes, good old Zan." Orlon grinned. "One of the most vicious and deadliest men I have ever known. Doesn't look it, but Zan is a true wood man. Knows the ins and outs of every environment, as well as a few combat moves. He taught us all most of his combat and tracking skills. Skills that were and are vital to our survival in this place."_

"_Sounds like he's quite the man." Paccone whistled._

"_He's with the rest of the refugees." Orlon continued. "He showed them the hiding spots, but when the Covenant came, he refused to go and fight them, so me, Tarin here, and anybody else crazy enough to follow broke off to take the fight to the Covenant."_

_Intrigued, Paccone asked Tarin, "So, are you as good as your old man?"_

"_Sadly, no." Orlon stepped in before Tarin had a chance to speak. "Before he could teach her everything, she left with me to go fight off the Covenant raiding parties. But hell, that doesn't matter." Orlon laughed. "Even if her training is incomplete, Tarin is still by far the best of us. She's chalked up over thirty Covenant scumbags on her own."_

_Tarin didn't say anything. Paccone looked to see what was the problem and was surprised to see that she was no longer there anymore. Besides his memory of the conversation, Paccone would be hard pressed to prove that anybody had been there at all._

"_Did she just-?"_

"_Yep." Orlon nodded. "She does that a lot. You get used to it."_

"_You do an awful lot of talking for her." Paccone remarked snidely._

"_Mingling with strangers is, sadly, not one of the many things her father taught." Orlon sighed. "Don't worry about it though, she's a tough girl."_

_Suddenly, one of the point men ducked down and raised his fist in the air, a symbol to take cover. Like water, the group of humans melded into the surrounding forest._

_Paccone stayed down as he saw a Covenant patrol wander its way through the woods. From his position, all he could see were the feet of the oncoming enemies, though he was able to estimate that there were roughly fifteen Grunts, six Jackals, and three Elites. Paccone kept a careful eye, and noticed that one Grunt bringing up the rear had disappeared. Paccone wasn't sure if he had miscounted or not until he saw another Grunt get pulled into the brush without a sound. One Grunt turned and noticed that its comrades were missing and squealed in alarm. Then all hell broke loose._

_A guerilla burst out from a hidden spider hole and rammed a knife blade into a Grunt's throat. More guerilla fighters similarly emerged from cover like shadows and pounced on the surprised enemies. Unfortunately, the remaining Covenant began to open fire, shooting wildly into the brush. Paccone could see at least one guerilla fighter emerging from the brush get perforated by needler rounds. Paccone leapt up from his hiding spot and put a three round burst right between the eyeballs of the Jackal right in front of him. The rest of his squad followed suit, popping out of cover like gophers and adding their considerable firepower to the fight. _

_Tarin, who was perched on a tree branch above the battle, waited patiently for the right time to strike. As if on cue, the needler-toting Elite, the same one that had killed Barry, backed up right under her branch, firing more needle rounds into the mass of bodies in front of it. Tarin unsheathed her knife and leapt off the branch, landing straight onto the Elite's back and knocking it flat. Without hesitation, she stabbed her blade straight into the Elite's skull. It's shields, already weakened by the weight of Tarin's fall, couldn't hold off the force of the stabbing blade. The blade jammed itself into the Elite's head, and Tarin had to hold on with all her might as the alien trashed and twitched. She quickly pulled the blade back out and turned to face the second Elite. The first was already dead, and its only movements were that of involuntary spasms._

_The second Elite, obviously enraged at the death of its partner, growled and tightened its fists. Tarin, unfazed, drew out her wooden stave._

"_Bring it." She growled back._

_The third Elite died as it was cut down by the combined arms of Paccone's squad. The rest of the Covenant patrol was either dead, or fleeing, though they wouldn't make it far with the deadly wood warriors at their heels. Paccone made a quick body count and noticed that one Elite was still alive. He aimed his rifle but hesitated. He was completely amazed by what he saw._

_Tarin was in a position that no sane human would ever willingly put themselves in. She was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with an Elite. However, as Paccone looked on, he suddenly realized that he had little to worry about._

_Tarin was remarkably agile, flowing around the Elite's attacks like water. No matter what move or attack the Elite tried, Tarin always found a way to avoid the blow. Not only that, but she also managed to turn every dodging maneuver into a vicious attack, often using her momentum to deliver a savage counterattack with her stave, bashing it into the Elite. The Elite's shield flashed and sparked as it took the blows, but energy shielding could only withstand so much punishment. The shields finally popped after a particularly hard blow to the Elite's ribs, and in a fury, it swung its blade laterally in an attempt to behead Tarin. Reacting swiftly, Tarin ducked under the swing, and before the Elite could recover from its attack, Tarin leapt up and plunged her knife right into the vulnerable neck seal between the Elite's helmet and collar plate. The Elite gurgled and thrashed as it tried to pull away, but Tarin held on and kept the blade jammed in its throat until the alien finally slumped down and stopped moving. Panting heavily from the effort, Tarin finally pulled the knife from the dead Elite's throat and sheathed it._

_Paccone was lost for words. He had just seen a girl kill two Elites with nothing but a knife and a stick. _

_Orlon smiled when he saw Paccone's expression. "Yeah, I did the exact same thing when I saw it for the first time, too."_

_Some of the other guerilla fighters cheered and congratulated Tarin on another fine pair of kills, though all she could do was nod to them. She was completely exhausted from the battle._

"_She would make one fine Marine."_

_Orlon grinned. "Is that a job offer?"_

"_You're god damn right it is."_

_Both men laughed. Orlon then sobered. "What's the count?"_

_Paccone did a quick check of his squadmates. "They're all still alive, though I've seen some of your people take some bad hits."_

_Orlon nodded. "Three dead, five seriously wounded. I think one of them is too far gone to help."_

_Paccone nodded solemnly, there was no getting around it. "We better start moving again, before we get caught by another patrol."_

_As Orlon and his crew began to dispose of the bodies and scavenge equipment, Paccone took a quick look at his mission timer and didn't like what he saw. He now had roughly only five hours to meet the evacuation deadline. If they ran into any more firefights like this, the Covenant armada would be right on top of them before they knew it._

_**Covenant Reconnaissance Outpost**_

_Relamee was in a fit of rage when he heard yet another patrol was inexplicably lost. Relamee was so angry in fact, he backhanded a Grunt that just happened to be standing too close to the door. His anger was only tempered by the fact that his assault force had found the trail of something..._

_**Camp Emerald Valley**_

_Paccone was thoroughly unimpressed with what he saw. The human camp was basically a complex filled with rows of tents and temporary cabins, as well as a few permanent structures. Civilians of all shapes and sizes milled about, packing up prized possessions and looking for any idle Pelican transports._

_Paccone didn't really want to put a dent in these people's morale, but it had to be done. He had told everybody about their planet's predicament and called the _Monte Cassingo _to send down the evacuation ships. So far, things were going smoothly and most of the civilians were already shipped off. The only people left were stragglers who couldn't find a ship just yet, and some crazy die-hards who wanted to stay and fight for their planet._

_Paccone looked over and saw Tarin sitting on a bench sharpening her knife. Paccone went and sat down next to her._

"_That's a very fine knife." Paccone said, trying to get the mysterious girl to talk._

_Tarin nodded, but didn't look up from her task._

"_You know, I would prefer a standard issue Marine combat knife any day, but that is one fine piece of work." Paccone observed the inscriptions and runes acid-etched into the silver blade, which made it all the more alluring._

"_Is there a reason why you're here?" Tarin finally said._

"_Well, not really. I was just screwing around and thought that I could find some amusement just pestering you."_

"_Well, it's working, which means you'll find a knife up you ass in the near future." Tarin growled._

_Paccone was about to retort when the thruster wash of a passing flight of Pelicans drowned it out. It was the last Pelican flight before the UNSC Navy left the system for good._

"_Come on, that's our ride." Paccone said, standing up._

"_No."_

_Paccone stopped and turned around again. "What? Did I hear that right?"_

"_I'm going back." Tarin said confidently. "Back with Orlon and my father, to fight the Covenant."_

"_Don't be crazy, girl!" Paccone blurted out, not knowing why. "You'll just die when the Covenant glass this planet! What do you hope to achieve?"_

"_I left my father once, I'm not making that mistake again." Tarin stood up. "I'm going back to him. Whether I leave or stay is up to him."_

_Before Paccone could say anything else, he heard the distinct whine of plasma fire. He quickly tackled Tarin to the ground as a flurry of plasma bolts flew past. The crowd of remaining civilians screamed as dozens of them were cut down by the sudden energy barrage. The remaining guerilla fighters starting running to head off the Covenant attack, but Paccone saw nearly eighty assorted Grunts, Jackals, and Elites bust out of the forest firing indiscriminately. Many of the guerillas were gunned down in the subsequent waves as they tried to close in use their melee weapons._

"_Shit!" Paccone cursed, picked up Tarin in his arms, and started sprinting for the Pelicans. The Marines guarding the dropships began throwing support fire for him as he ran. Meanwhile, the Covenant was delayed as Orlon and Zan led the remainder of their forces into a vicious flanking attack, and the entire battle turned into a brutal melee._

_The Pelicans were leaving now. All of the surviving civilians were on board, and the zone was getting too hot for the pilots' liking. Paccone leapt into one of the few remaining Pelicans, but before he could knew it, something hit him in the face and he blacked out for a second. When he regained his senses, he noticed that Tarin was missing._

"_Damn girl!" He cursed again. Why was he so concerned about her?_

"_You!" Paccone pointed at the Pelican pilot. "You keep this tub here until I get back, or when you get fried by Covenant plasma, is that clear?"_

_He was out the door before the pilot even had a chance to protest. Paccone took a quick look around. It was total carnage. Tents and buildings were ablaze from rampant plasma fire. Bodies of both Covenant and human warriors littered the ground. He caught a glimpse of two figures tearing apart the Covenant formations with acrobatic ease. He assumed that they were Orlon and Zan. He then saw Tarin fighting her way in their direction, slaughtering any Grunt or Jackal unlucky enough to get in its way._

"_Sergeant!" The radio yelled, it was the Pelican pilot. "Reports of the Covvie fleet! It's here! Oh my god, they're going to glass us! They're going to-"_

"_Keep it together, soldier!" Paccone yelled back into his radio, "We are NOT going to die. Stay on station until I get back!"_

_Paccone had finally caught up with Tarin and grabbed her by the arm. With lightning fast reflexes, Tarin whipped around, her knife aimed at Paccone's heart. Paccone sidestepped and grabbed her other arm, squeezing a pressure point on her wrist and forcing her to drop the knife._

"_It's me!" He cried._

"_I know!" Tarin yelled. Paccone could see the rage in her eyes. "Why are you trying to stop me?"  
_

"_Because you're going to die if you go that way!"_

"_Fuck you!"_

_Tarin struggled as she tried to free herself from Paccone's grip. Paccone meanwhile was trying to tug her back to the waiting Pelican._

_Then the first plasma torpedo hit._

_Even though it struck about fifteen miles away, Paccone could still feel the immense heat of the beam wash over him, and the sudden flash of light left the image seared into his eyes. He would see the same sight every time he closed his eyes for days afterwards. Suddenly, more and more shafts of light began touching down. The glassing had begun._

"_Son of a bitch!" Paccone yelled, realizing what was going to happen._

"_Son of a btich!" Tarin screamed, blinded by the plasma strike._

_Paccone took the chance to drag a kicking and screaming Tarin back to the Pelican. Paccone looked back one last time, and saw the patch of forest that Orlon and Zan were fighting in was just melted and fused glass. He sadly shook his head and closed the Pelican hatch. When he sat down, he saw Tarin on the other side of the Pelican, looking out of the hatch and watching the forests of her homeworld burn for the first and last time. Tears of sadness and rage welled up in her eyes._

"_Fuck you, Sergeant. I never asked for you to save me. I wanted to stay and fight for my world, not run like a coward!"_

_Paccone didn't say anything, though he suspected that he would regret this some day._

**Present day**

"What happened after that?" Karla asked.

"Well, the Sergeant basically sponsored me into the Marine Corps, and used a few favors to fast-track me into officer training." Tarin sighed. "The main reason why I stayed was in the vain hope I would meet him again some day, and then give him the beating he deserved."

"I would love to see that day." Karl grinned, "What do you think about him now?" Karla suspected she knew the answer already.

"Looking back after all I did in the Marines, I'm starting to get the unthinkable notion that maybe, just maybe, Paccone made the right call."

"Story of my life." Karla sighed.

"Are you going to tell Williams about this?"

Karla raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, he _is _your personal slave..."

"You actually cracked a joke!" Karla laughed. "No, I'll leave that up to you. You two should talk more, Williams could really a use a friend."

"I don't think it'll work out, Captain."

"Ah, don't worry. Personally, I think Williams is into older women anyway." Karla wisecracked.

Tarin blinked in surprise. "I- I never thought about talking to him _that_ way."

"Silly Tarin, always taking things so seriously." Karla laughed. "Just don't kill Paccone or anything, that's a job reserved for me."

"Can I horribly wound him?"

"Maybe." Karla nodded "Carry on, Lieutenant Richards. If you will excuse me, I've got a few more people to see."


	7. Homecoming

Chapter 7: Homecoming

**Earth**

**Two Days Later**

After two days of urgent transit through Slipspace, the _Freedom_ had finally reached Earth. It was not the first nor last ship to arrive, as it was only one of hundreds of UNSC warships answering the call to return to the most sacred of planets. The _Freedom_ was immediately granted clearance to dock with the Point Hope Orbital Shipyard for much needed maintenance and further systems checks. Meanwhile, the Marine contingents on board were put to good use, either being stationed on the ground or on one of the many brand new super MAC stations orbiting the planet. All the human defenders could do was wait, and hope that their greatest fears were unfounded.

_**UNSC Freedom**_

**Bridge**

"This is the first time I've actually seen you relieved." Joshua quipped resetting his chessboard. "Finally happy that we reached Earth?"

"Finally happy that I don't have to fear having this ship fail on me in the near future." Rogers beamed. "I would toast you, but AIs have a notorious reputation for abstinence."

"I can't imagine why, sir."

Rogers sat back and kept a close eye on the bridge's data screens. "What's our status?"

"Thirty percent of the ship's systems have been fully scanned, with 154 errors detected and repaired. Seven errors still pending, and two files quarantined."

Rogers shook his head. AIs always assumed that everybody understood what they were saying. "Which means...?"

Joshua sighed. It was always a bother having to explain everything. "The scanning is going as planned."

"What about our houseguests?" Rogers was referring to Balthasar, Melchoir, and Caspar.

"I don't foresee any them causing trouble."

"If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that you wanted them off this ship." Rogers grinned.

"An AI can dream, Captain."

**Super MAC Orbital Station _Cairo_**

"No, I will absolutely _not_ do it." Karla shook her head. "There's no way."

In all of her time spent in the Marines, Karla had seen some pretty nasty things that would make most normal people heave. She'd seen fellow Marines killed or maimed right in front of her very eyes, brutal close combat with some of the worst the Covenant had to offer, countless planets and populations being glassed, and even an underground bunker complex and town inhabited with the _living dead_. She could handle those easily, there was no doubt about that, but there was one thing that Karla always dreaded the very first day she became a Marine, something even worse than years of combat against the nastiest and most brutal alien race in the galaxy. Something that Karla hoped that she never had to deal with again.

The Marine formal dress uniform. Any combat trooper's worst nightmare.

"Oh come on." Paccone laughed, "It's a small price to pay to see not just a Spartan, but _the_ Spartan."

Of course, he was referring to the Master Chief, Spartan-117. The most famous of them all.

"Oh, shut up. They're all the same anyway." Karla waved the comment off. "Besides, you're already wearing that god forsaken chicken suit."

The Marine formal dress uniform was basically a white cap, shirt, and pants for men, with black dress shoes. There was also room on the uniform to pin on rank and unit insignias, as well as medals earned in combat. For women, it was basically the same, except they wore a knee-length white skirt with black stockings. These uniforms were notoriously uncomfortable, especially forpeople who spent basically their entire lives in Marine combat armor, which was very pragmatically designed for both functionality and comfort.

"I think this uniform makes me look dashing." Paccone smiled, stroking his snow-white sleeves and straightening out his collar.

"I think it makes you look like a complete _idiot._" Karla retorted.

"Well then, I'm pretty sure you'll feel absolutely wonderful when you find out that you've shattered the many hopes and dreams of a certain Major you know."

Karla's jaw dropped. "You didn't..."

"Major Mackenzie would be _so_ disappointed to see that his favorite little captain didn't attend a once in a lifetime ceremony, just because she disagreed with the dress code."

Karla snatched the vacuum sealed package of clothes from Paccone's arms. She glared at him and let the acid flow out of her mouth, "Somebody is going to get hurt _real_ bad after this." She prodded Paccone's chest with her finger. "Somebody."

Both Marines stood there silently for a few seconds.

"What," Karla finally spoke. "Are you expecting me to strip in front of you?"

Paccone cracked his trademark grin. "I was kinda hoping."

"Pervert."

**UNSC Pelican Z-34 en route to Orbital MAC Station _Cairo_**

"Awww, she's sleeping like a little baby." Kumi smiled. "We should shave off one of her eyebrows or something."

"That's terrible." Leo grinned. "We should steal her rifle and hide it in one of the storage bins. That'll drive her nuts."

"Hey, that _would_." Kumi laughed. "Hey Scohar, you go anything to add?"

Scohar shrugged. "Maybe we should just wake her up, we're almost there anyway."

"You're no fun."

"I can hear you guys." Sam said, eyes still closed. "Can't get any decent sleep in this damn tin can anyways."

"Hey!" The pilot yelled. "This 'tin can' is what's going to get you to the _Cairo_, unless you'd prefer to walk there."

"Well hey," Kumi knocked on the side of the Pelican. "If this thing will even stay in once piece long enough."

"Oh, it'll get there. _You_ should be worrying about what to do when you feel the urge to hurl."

"Hey man," Leo laughed, "If we can keep Marine combat rations down, we can handle _anything_."

"Tell you what, you canput that bucket you call a helmet on your face and can keep it all to yourself."

Scohar looked at the exchange curiously. Though it looked like the Marines and the pilot were verbally lashing each other, it was really just comradely banter between soldiers. It was rather interesting to see such unpredictable people interacting with other unpredictable people, and creating an atmosphere of warmth and happiness in an otherwise cold and lonely galaxy.

"Besides," The pilot continued, "I can get us there alive, no problemo."

"Oh yeah, and the fact that your call sign is 'Barfbag' is even more reassuring." Sam said, eyes still closed.

"Hey, how'd you know that?" The pilot turned his head around curiously.

"It's amazing what you can learn if you listen hard enough." Sam said coolly,

Leo noticed that Kumi was quite surprised. In fact, he was actually pretty surprised himself. The pilot had never mentioned his call sign during the entire trip. Leo also noted that Scohar showed no apparent reaction at all. Just another interesting factoid to catalog.

"Any previous flying records, so we know that we might have a slight chance of surviving?" Kumi asked, "Because there aren't many more mundane ways to die than in a Pelican."

"Most recent run was dropping off troops at Zanatar." Barfbag beamed proudly.

"Great." Sam sighed. "Any mission where you actually landed your Pelican _intact?_"

Barfbag's smile remained unbroken. "None that I could remember."

"Wonderful." Sam leaned back in her seat and started assembling her sniper rifle out of habit and boredom.

"Do you do that often?" Schoar asked, pointing to the half-assembled rifle.

Sam said simply, "Only when I get a bad feeling."

_**Cairo**_

"I swear, this is like jury duty, but worse." Williams grumbled.

"Well, I sort of thought it was the point of the army to have sentries." Tarin responded.

Unfortunately for Williams and Tarin, they were passed up for a chance to see Spartan-117, or more universally known as the Master Chief. Instead, they were tasked to guard one of the _Cairo_'s Pelican bays, which could obviously get very boring and very lonely.

"I swear, I'd rather face a Hunter again than go through sentry duty. It just drives me _crazy._" Williams hung his head in mock sorrow.

"You've actually seen a Hunter?" Tarin's eyes gleamed in curiosity.

"Oh yeah, back on Schizen Eight, we faced _hordes_ of those things. Lucky to be alive after that."

"Let me guess, the Captain killed them all."

"Naturally."

"What were you doing?"

"Ducking in a shell hole and screaming like a little girl."

Tarin grinned. "Naturally."

"Let me tell you, those Hunters are built like _tanks_." Williams noticed that Tarin was listening with the interest of a schoolgirl, which kind of made him feel good. "Nothing short of a point-blank Jackhammer rocket can get through their armor."

"I've heard that they didn't have much armor in the back." Tarin pulled her trademark silver knife from its sheath and twirled it around in her fingers several times. "Makes it pretty easy to kill them."

"_If_ you can get that close. Even if you manage to dodge its fuel rod cannon or its big honking shield, you still have those razor sharp spines on its back to deal with."

Even as he said the words, Williams noticed that Tarin was only half-listening. Williams had a gut feeling that she was contemplating how to kill a Hunter with just that trusty knife of hers.

"It's suicide." He said.

"I've done crazier things." Tarin looked out of the viewports and narrowed her eyes. "Hey, what the hell is that?"

_**Freedom**_

"Sir, I'm reading anomalous contacts on the fringes of the system." Josua chimed.

Captain Rogers sat up, suddenly alert. "Anything from FLEETCOM?"

"All forces are put on full alert, and-" Suddenly, there was a buzzing of static. "Warning, warning, Covenant ships detected and confirmed. Enemy dropships boarding MAC stations, warships gathering on the fringes of the system. All available forces being mobilized, and all MAC stations powered and attaining firing solutions."

"Joshua, what's our maintenance status?"

"Ninety-three percent." Joshua was shifting chess pieces at a frantic rate now. "Approximately twelve more minutes until completion."

"Ninety-three is good enough, and twelve minutes _defnitely_ isn't good enough. Tell the crew to go to battle stations, seal all hatches and detach from the station."

"Understood, Captain."

Warning klaxons began to ring and crewmen all over the ship began running in a mad dash to their assigned stations. There was a loud hiss and thud as power cables and walkways cut themselves from the _Freedom's_ hull and retracted.

"Weapons and shields are powered and ready." Joshua continued.

But Rogers wasn't paying attention. He saw upwards of maybe forty to fifty twinkling lights in the distance, growing larger and larger.

"Joshua, what is that I'm seeing?"

"Possibly a flight of Longswords responding to the attack."

Rogers stared at the display for several more seconds, and then realized what it was.

"Oh my god, those aren't Longswords! Joshua! Activate all anti-fighter batteries! Scramble our Longswords! Tell Point Hope to do the same!"

"Done."

Suddenly, the dark void of space was lit up by the flashes of hundreds of autocannons and gauss turrets firing thousands of rounds per second against the advancing hostiles. Not even flinching once, the Covenant Seraphs replied in kind with hailstorms of blue plasma energy.

_**Cairo**_

Karla and Paccone stood at attention as Sergeant Johnson and the Master Chief made their way into the room.

"Hey, it's the Master Chief himself." Paccone whispered. "What do you think?"

"Meh." Karla shrugged. "He's shorter than I thought."

"Oh come on, this is the perfect chance for you to ask him why his armor is such a fruity color."

Paccone was obviously referring to the bright and slightly repulsive shade of green that dominated most of the Spartan'' armor. In hindsight, Karla thought that it would make pretty poor camouflage on most worlds.

"Hey, here's an idea." She whispered back. "_You_ ask him, and _I'll_ watch him twist your head off."

Karla kept a careful eye on the Spartan super-soldier. She had the odd feeling that he could hear her conversation with Paccone. It wouldn't be surprising, since she assumed super-soldiers naturally had better hearing, but it was still unnerving nonetheless. How Sam had a crush on this... soldier while she was in school, Karla would never know.

One of the officers began to talk, but Karla wasn't listening. She still had a great deal of questions concerning her previous experiences back on Aeola. She believed Mackenzie would have an answer, since he had several contacts within ONI, but she never had the chance to speak with him during the long Slipspace journey. She could see him standing on the opposite end of the line of officers, noting with amusement at his obvious discomfort in a dress uniform.

Suddenly, out of the blue, warning klaxons blared. Marines were immediately running and grabbing weapons. Even the officers, still clad in dress uniform, began running for the weapons caches.

"What the hell is going on?" Karla asked a passing Marine.

"The Covenant are finally here!" He yelled, flicking the safety on his battle rifle off. "They've started the attack, the poor bastards."


	8. Batten Down the Hatches

Chapter 8: Batten Down the Hatches

_**Cairo**_

Karla and Paccone took cover as a Jackhammer rocket blew out an entire room full of Covenant. Bits of debris and cooked flesh flew out of the doorway as a second rocket flew in to finish the job.

"I think I like Sergeant Johnson's taste in weaponry." Paccone grinned.

"Shutup and hand me that radio." Karla growled, firing her battle rifle around the corner.

Paccone grumbled and tossed a headset to Karla before he rushed into the next room, submachine guns blazing. Karla hastily activated the headset and put it on.

"Lieutenant Richards, can you hear me? What is your situation?"

"It's as ugly as a Grunt's butt down here!" Karla could barely hear Tarin's voice over the gunfire in the background, "They just keep pouring in!"

Karla hastily activated a nearby computer console and brought up a map of the station. She did some quick cross-checking and then deactivated the terminal.

"Paccone! Get your ass over here!"

Paccone turned and hustled back to Karla's position, disappointed at having to break off combat.

"What's the problem?"

"Williams and Richards are in a bit of trouble. We have to reinforce them ASAP." Karla glanced at Paccone's head, "And what the hell happened to your hat?"

"Oh, that." Paccone grinned and stroked his hair, "near miss from a plasma bolt burned it clean off. Hey, why do you look disappointed?"

"There are times where I wish that the Covenant had better firearms training." Karla waved to three nearby Marines. "You three, you're coming with us."

"Where we going?" Paccone ran down the hall after Karla.

"Pelican bays. The Covenant are trying to take it. If we take this route, we can bypass the armory and get there faster."

The first few hallways were uneventful, as the Covenant hadn't reached those areas yet. As the group progressed, however, they got into more and more small skirmishes between other Marine defenders and the Covenant. After five short minutes, Karla's motely group of five Marines had grown to nearly twenty as they absorbed more wandering and confused fireteams.

As she sprinted down a hallway, Karla saw that Covenant troops had already bypassed the Pelican bays. A squad of Grunts were holding the other end of the hallway, and one of them was manning a heavy plasma cannon on a portable turret.

"Take cover!" She yelled.

The advancing Marines quickly dove for cover in nearby doorways and alcoves in the sides of the hall. Unfortunately, some of them weren't fast enough. Three Marines were cut down in a hail of plasma fire, and one was incinerated waist up from the heavy plasma cannon. Karla fired her battle rifle blindly down the hall in an attempt to pin the Grunts, but they had good cover and no reason to shy from hostile fire. Karla reached for another clip and cursed when she remembered that she wasn't wearing her usual combat gear. The dress uniform had no pockets to hold extra clips, and all Karla could carry was her trusty M6D in a hip holster. Ironically, Karla's constant paranoia of being caught unprepared was proving itself true now.

"Hey Ron." She turned to Paccone, who had ducked into the same room as her. It was basically a small office for some low grade officer or clerk. There was a desk, some chairs, and a very large viewport that gave a very nice view of the epic space battle outside.

"Yeah?" Paccone started firing his SMG down the hall.

"If we survive through this, remind me to shoot the bastard who convinced me to wear this damn thing."

"Will do." Paccone grumbled. He had no extra ammunition for his SMG, and was reduced to using his M6D as well. "I don't suppose you're carrying any extra ammo anywhere."

Karla sighed and took her cap off. "I don't suppose you're getting any bright ideas now."

"Well, we could try and snipe them with our pistols."

"And get a faceful of plasma. No thanks."

"Wait a minute." Paccone's eyes lit up and he began knocking on one of the walls. "The next room over is right on the other side of this wall, right?"

"Yeah." Karla glanced at the wall as well. "What do you have in mind?"

"Hey! Private!" Paccone yelled at the room directly across the hallway. "Do you or any of your buddies have any C7?"

"Yes sir!" One of the Marines shouted back.

"Toss me a few bricks of the stuff, then!"

Karla's eyes widened with horror. "No, you can't seriously be thinking-"

Paccone caught one of the C7 bricks and began molding it. "You should stop worrying so much about everything. The stress ruins that pretty little face of yours."

"Well, I do have cause to worry, since only three things can result from this, and two of those results are very, very, _very_ bad, especially if you don't know how to shape that C7 properly."

"Yes, yes, I know that we could either be blown to little itty bitty pieces or sucked into the vacuum of space, but I'm willing to risk it because I sure as hell am _not_ going to be upstaged by a bunch of filthy little frogmen."

Paccone slapped the newly shaped C7 charge and shoved a detonator into it. "Even though I'm confident this will work, I still think it would be a good idea to find some cover."

Karla deeply regretted leaving her plasma sword behind in her quarters. She probably could have used it to cut through the wall, but there was no getting around that now. She kicked over the desk and ducked behind it. Paccone set the charge's timer to five seconds and leapt over the desk.

The resulting BANG was deafening, but thanks to the way the charge was shaped, most of the energy was focused into the wall. In fact, the blast was so powerful, it didn't just only blow through one wall, but three. Not missing a beat, Karla and Paccone ran through the breach. The makeshift hallway allowed them to flank the Covenant position, and the Grunts manning the heavy plasma cannon were quickly dispatched by Karla and Paccone's pistols. Karla waved to the rest of the team of come out of cover and advance. She also took a moment to pick up a plasma rifle and needler. Both weapons were light enough to carry with one hand, didn't require much reloading, and their previous owners didn't seem to be giving any complaints. It was the perfect deal.

Meanwhile, Paccone, in his usual fashion for using extremely big and extremely destructive weaponry, picked up the heavy plasma cannon, much to the cheers of his fellow Marines.

"Isn't that thing heavy?" Karla asked.

"Lady, if I can survive a nightin bed with you, I can do _anything_."

Karla could hear some of the Marines snicker and giggle. An evil glare quickly shut them all up.

"Well, it won't be my fault if you get hernia carrying that monster. Let's go!"

**Pelican Z-34**

"Hey guys," Barfbag turned his head. "I think it would be a good idea to put on your seatbelts, because we have company."

Two Seraphs had caught sight of the lone Pelican and decided to get an easy kill. Like birds of prey, both fighters swooped in, plasma guns blazing. Barfbag rolled the Pelican and presented its belly to the Seraphs, allowing its 70mm autocannon a clear line of fire. The cannon fired a burst of rounds at the pursing Seraphs, forcing them to break off their attack run. Unfortunately, Seraphs were far faster and more maneuverable than Pelicans, and it wouldn't be long until they looped back for another run.

"I hope you like it fast and furious." Barfbag said to his passengers. "Cause that's what it's going to be for the next few seconds!"

There were dull thuds reverberating throughout the hull as plasma bolts bounced off the Pelican's armor. Parts of the ship began glowing red from the heat, and Kumi shrieked as her glove was burned as the heat began to bleed into the interior of the hull. Barfbag bit his lip as he put his Pelican into a sharp dive, throwing off the Seraphs' aim for a precious few seconds as he tried to decide what to do. He could try and fight the Seraphs head on, which was basically the equivalent of a death sentence. He could try running, but the Seraphs were faster and they would eventually catch up and destroy them. His only real option was to find the nearest UNSC ship or station and hope that their guns would take down the fighters.

The Pelican began to duck and weave as it made a beeline for the nearest ship. The Seraphs looped back in hot pursuit and continued firing, but Barfbag managed to hook his Pelican around a UNSC cruiser so its bulk shielded the Pelican from the Seraphs' whither fire. As the Seraphs attempted to follow, one collided head on with an Archer missile as it launched itself from one of the weapons pods. The fighter nearly sheared the telephone pole-sized missile in half before it exploded in a brilliant orange fireball. The second Seraph managed to hook around the cruiser without a scratch, but was surprised when it didn't see anything.

When Barfbag hooked his Pelican around the cruiser, instead of continuing to fly, he immediately cut power to the engines and reversed to the point where the Pelican's rear was touching the cruiser's hull. Now that the fighter had overshot the Pelican, Barfbag had a clear shot at the Seraph's rear.

"You lose, sucker." Barfbag smiled to himself.

The Seraph's shielding held for exactly 3.2 seconds before it failed under the heavy barrage. Without its protective energy screen, the Seraph was shredded like cardboard.

"Now _that_ is how you fly!" Barfbag yelled.

"That's great." Sam unbuckled herself. "Can I barf now?"

_**Freedom**_

Rogers sighed with relief as the _Freedom_ finally pulled out of the station. The Seraphs peppered the ship with ineffectual plasma fire, as the ship's shielding easily shrugged it off. The Seraphs, however, quickly fell prey to Point Hope's autocannons and Longswords.

"Joshua, find the nearest Covenant warship and engage."

"Roger, Captain."

Rogers took the chance to look at the entire battle. The black void of space was lit up not only by stars, but with plasma torpedoes, missiles, explosions, and the chaos of war. UNSC warships engaged directly with Covenant warships, and the Super MAC stations were firing as fast as they could. UNSC ships were speared or cut apart by Covenant plasma, while Covenant ships were knocked around and shattered like glass by MAC rounds. So far, the larger Covenant capital ships like the carriers appeared to be hanging at the edge of the system, just out of range of the Super MACs, while it appeared that the smaller capital ships were attempting to destroy the orbital stations.

"We have a firing solution on the nearest Covenant ship." Joshua announced.

Rogers glanced at the targeting screen and saw a Covenant destroyer engaging two UNSC frigates.

"Fire at will Joshua, and make them all count."

The _Freedom_'s particle beams flashed as they struck the Covenant destroyer's shields, lancing through them like a needle. Two of the beams speared straight through the sides of the destroyer, and were quickly followed up by volleys of missiles from both the _Freedom_ and the frigates. Explosions rippled across the destroyer as armor plating and components were destroyed. The destroyer's lights flashed on and off for several seconds, and then stayed off as its main systems began to fail.

"Target's threat level is now zero." Joshua announced. "Searching for a new target."

"Find us something larger, Joshua." Rogers leaned back in his seat. "I would like to think that we will actually make a difference in this battle."

**_Cairo _Pelican Bay**

Williams thought of many better places he'd rather be at right now. At Captain Welling's side, home on Earth, or on some tropical planet where the Covenant was just a nasty rumor.

Unfortunately for him, Williams was stuck in a hellhole fighting for his life against wave after wave of Covenant invaders. He fired his rifle at a pack of grunts, and was satisfied to see them disappear in a cloud of blue blood. He saw Tarin put a three round burst into an Elite's face, and score a perfect headshot on an advancing Jackal that thought its shield offered adequate protection. Well, at least they had the high ground. The Marine defenders were standing on the loading gantries one story above the maintenance floor, firing into the crowded masses of Covenant below and dropping grenades. Unfortunately, they were running short on ammo, and it was only a matter of time before the Covenant managed to charge up the stairs and overwhelm them.

"Now who said you could start the party without us?"

Williams nearly jumped and turned to see Karla with reinforcements.

"Well, we left some alive to occupy your time, Captain." He said.

Karla grinned. "Come on men, let's show these Covvie bastards how Marines fight!"

The Marines yelled, "HOO-RAH!" and charged into the surprised Covenant attackers. There was fierce fighting as the Marines and Covenant squared off in close quarters. Karla let loose with her plasma rifle/needler combo with chilling effect, disabling the Elites' shields and then perforating them with explosive needles. Paccone's efforts of carrying the heavy plasma cannon finally paid off as he used it to incinerate hapless Covenant soldiers. Williams fired his battle rifle into the mass, and Tarin was hacking and slashing a group of jackals who had thought it was a good idea to try and get into close combat with her.

However, all of that paled into comparison to the Master Chief. When he barged into the bay, he didn't even bother taking the stairs down to the maintenance floor. He just jumped straight off the gantry and landed with enough force to shake the decking. He drew twin SMGs, charged straight into the middle of the Covenant formation, and let the lead fly. Those few Covenant that had time to fire didn't make much of a difference, as their shots bounced harmlessly off of the Spartan's personal shielding. They just drew his attention and he killed them without batting an eyelid. Even when he exhausted his clips, the Master Chief still fought on, using them as makeshift melee weapons and striking Covenant troops with enough force to shatter bones and rupture organs. Just seconds after the Master Chief had joined the fight, he had slaughtered every single Covenant soldier down to the last Grunt.

Naturally, the other Marines helped somewhat, but who could forget a sight like that?

"Hey greenhorns, you gonna just stand and stare and let the Covvies blast us to hell?" Sergeant Johnson yelled. "Get moving! The Corps ain't paying us by the hour!"

"Sir! Look!" One of the Marines pointed out of the bay doors.

Outside, the _Cairo_'s sister stations, the _Athens_ and _Malta_, both exploded in massive fireballs. Several Covenant and Human ships unfortunate enough to be near the two stations were engulfed and destroyed as well. Some of the debris from the blasts even began to ricochet off of the _Cairo_'s hull. None of the stations were even under enemy fire.

Karla looked over at the Master Chief. She had never seen the man, if you could call him that, in battle and was unsure how he would react. The Master Chief merely cocked his head, as if he were receiving a radio transmission. The quickly straightened up and dashed into a door that led into the _Cairo_'s maintenance halls, with several Marines including Johnson following in close pursuit.

Karla was about to follow when her radio crackled to life.

"Stay put, Captain, I've got a different job for you." Karla recognized the voice. It was Cortana, an AI. Before Karla had a chance to ask what was going on, Cortana continued, "The Covenant have planted a bomb on the _Cairo_. Don't worry, the Chief is dealing with that. However, he can't do this alone."

Karla nodded. "What do you want me to do?"

"I've hacked into the Covenant battle network, and I've found out that the Covenant are very well aware that the Chief is on this station, and they're afraid that he'll stop the bomb. A group of Covenant troops are making their way to the Damage Control facility, and there's no other Marine unit available to defend it. That's where you come in."

"Take and hold?"

"That's right. If the Covenant gain control of that facility, they can seal every door in this station shut, which means that the Chief won't be able to reach the bomb in time, which means that every single one of us is royally screwed."

Karla tossed her spent plasma rifle and needler aside picked up fresh ones from soldiers who no longer needed them. "Just show me the way."


	9. It's the Little Things That Count

Chapter 9: It's the Little Things that Count

_**Cairo**_

"Well this will be a great story to tell your grandkids." Paccone smiled. "I personally met and fought beside the one and only Master Chief, and he completely ignored me."

"Yeah, I was sort of wishing he would've bashed your face in. It would've made the story much more colorful."

"You're almost there, Captain. The station's sensors aren't picking anything up, so things should be quite for a while." Cortana chimed in on Karla's radio.

"Just shout when you see something." Karla replied, and then began directing troops to defensible positions.

The _Cairo_'s Damage Control Center was located in the heart of the station. Its main purpose was to monitor the data from the core functions and conditions of the entire station, such as hull integrity, life support, and disaster control. As a result, the Damage Control Center had the capability to control many of the station's functions, as well as override the bridge should the need arise. In the hands of the enemy, they could potentially take control of most of the station, or cripple it beyond repair. The possibilities were endless, such as sealing blast doors, venting the station's atmosphere, or even overload its fusion reactor.

Unfortunately, the person who had designed the station put little thought into actually _defending_ such a position. The DCC was accessible through three different routes. Two hallways from either side of the center, and one large gallery connecting with a major station artery. The Covenant would be able to pour troops onto their position, while at the same time, the Marines had to divide their strength to make sure all entrances were adequately protected. Karla could only hope that reinforcements would arrive soon, or that the Master Chief would finish whatever the hell he was doing.

**_Cairo _Computer Systems**

With the sudden Covenant attack on the _Cairo_, Cortana had suddenly found herself managing just about everything on the station, from station defense, MAC fire control, and fleet direction, as well as guiding the Chief's every move. She suddenly received a ping from the station's sensors. Several more contacts had appeared on the screen, but compared to the capital ships, they were miniscule. Intrigued, Cortana allocated some of her processing power to investigate. She quickly realized that the new contacts the sensors were picking up were a squad of Elite-sized objects. She took a quick look at the Chief's location, and saw that he was spacewalking to the section of the station holding the bomb. She couldn't let the Chief be distracted by those Elites. Though she had absolutely confident that the Chief could deal with them, time was of the essence, and she needed him to get to that bomb as soon as possible. It was then that the logistics system pinged and informed her of the arrival of Pelican Z-34, pilot callsign: Barf Bag. If she were visible, Cortana would have frowned at such a crude nickname. Not wasting a microsecond, she scanned the Pelican's payload. It had the standard 150mm cannon, four Marines, and even vac-suits. Perfect. One of the Marines was also a certified sniper. Even better.

_**Cairo**_

Junior Marshal Mako Ralamee ordered his troops to halt. He and his small unit had orders to take a section of the Human station and secure it to ensure that another Covenant team could finish arming the bomb. His superiors warned that that section was probably very heavily guarded, and that it would take a crack force to take it. Mako snorted. His meager forces were hardly the caliber of normal Covenant troops. Mako had the unenviable job of leading a Displaced Individual Unit. Their main purpose was to operate on missions deemed too dangerous or costly for normal Covenant units. Basically, they were suicide shock troops. Their duty was very much like that of the Arbiter, though they didn't receive nearly as much fame, and were often stuck with dead end missions even worse than what the Arbiters usually had to do.

Also, like the Arbiters, troops in the DIUs were often Covenant soldiers disgraced at home or in battle. Many of the DIUs included, but were not limited to, cowards, suspected heretics, criminals, washouts, dissidents, draftees, and all kinds of lowlife scum.

However, Mako was different from them. He was the worst of them all. He had the misfortune and dishonor of being directly related to a proven and infamous heretic, Holy Ralamee, friend, fellow soldier, traitor, and heretic.

And also brother.

Mako could still remember that time. When Holy tried to stage a revolution, causing great damage and many deaths. When he was captured and declared a heretic, Mako and his family had to endure the investigations carried out by the secretive and ruthless Inquisitors, the Prophets' personal police force. Fortunately, Mako was not considered a heretic due to the loyalty he showed in his past service. Unfortunately, Holy had the exact same service record as Mako, so, feeling that it was better to be safe than sorry, the Prophets decided to dump him into a DIU in order to "atone for his sins". A load of Grunt dung, Mako thought.

However, the ultimate irony was that Mako actually agreed with his brother's ideals. Like Holy, Mako doubted the Prophet's divinity, but the both of them had different ideas on how to carry it out.

Suddenly, one of the Grunts squealed. Mako looked up and saw grenades roll onto the decking in front of them.

"Don't just stand there, you idiots!" He roared, "Pick them up and throw them back!"

One quick thinking Jackal immediately leapt to his feet and ran to pick up one of the grenades, but a rifle round blew his brains out the minute he touched the metallic object. One of the braver Grunts managed to pick two of them, but before he could do anything, a flurry of bullets shredded his legs. The Grunt squealed in pain and fell to his knees. He tried to throw the grenades, but it was too late. The moment he threw them, both exploded.

Mako winced as his shields were peppered with shrapnel and Grunt flesh. He took a quick count and saw that five of his troops were just paint stains on the decking. Mako sighed. Not that it mattered. Once that bomb went off, he and his entire troop were dead anyway.

**Damage Control Center**

"Did you really have to do that?" Karla looked at what was left of the braver-than-average Grunt. "A headshot would've worked just fine."

"I like seeing the looks on their faces when that happens." Paccone laughed sadistically.

"Bullshit. You just can't aim." Karla unpinned another grenade and lobbed it into the doorway.

"With this thing," Paccone patted the heavy plasma cannon, "I don't really need to."

"Ugh, let's just get this over with." Paccone waved to her fireteam of eight Marines. "Forward!"

During her time in officer training, one of the crucial lessons she had learned was that whenever on the defensive, try to turn the tables and go on the offensive against the attackers. It was a tactic that usually caught most attacking armies off guard, and sure as hell beat the ugliness of siege warfare. This little station scuffle, though much smaller in scope, was no different. The Covenant in the hall would still be disoriented by the grenade blasts, giving the Marines a chance to wipe it clean and wait for the next wave of Covenant.

One of the Marines, Mclellan, entered the hall and fell over as he was hit several times in the chest by plasma fire. Sadies and Korfen quickly took his place and began pouring fire in the massed Covenant down the hall. As Karla entered, she caught sight of an Elite on the ground aiming an overcharged plasma pistol. Thinking quickly, she kicked the pistol out of its hands. The pistol discharged massive green plasma bolt hit the ceiling, making molten steel drip down and sizzle on the Elite's shielding. Karla pumped several plasma rounds into the Elite, disabling its shields, but before she could bring her needler in line to finish it off, the Elite sent an armored fist into her chest. She could feel her chest compressing, and hoped that bone-crunching sound wasn't actually her bones.

The next thing she knew, Karla was looking at the ceiling gasping for air. Meanwhile, Paccone was firing his heavy plasma cannon down the hall, incinerating Covenant left and right. Finally, the plasma cannon gave a stubborn whine and shut down as its barrel melted from overheating. Cursing, Paccone dropped the cannon and began firing a "borrowed' Covenant carbine.

Karla slowly began to heave herself back up, and winced as her chest began to burn and ache. She coughed and tasted blood in her mouth. That punch must have broken several ribs and ruptured some minor blood vessels. It was certainly debilitating, and hurt like hell, but it certainly wasn't crippling. She managed to pick up her dropped plasma rifle and pour fire down the hall.

Mako growled. His shields were down and they were not recharging. He also noticed that some of his suit's systems weren't working very well either. That accursed female human must have hit his suit's power unit.

"Lagat! Shwir!" He yelled at two of his Jackals. "Use your shields and advance down the hallway! Kamamee and Yemekee, stay behind them and provide supporting fire!"

Unlike what some of his fellow officers would do, Mako was not about to force his troops into a suicide charge down a narrow alley. Better to think his way around a problem than use brute force. Holy also fought in a similar fashion-

Mako shook his head. He would have to concentrate if he was to complete this mission. Even if it meant getting blown up by his own bomb for the greater good.

**Pelican Z-34**

"I'm feeling queasy." Leo whined, though most of his voice was filtered through the vac-suit's comm, negating most of its strength. "This was such a bad idea."

"Leo, when something fifty million times smarter than you asks you to do something, you don't tell them to screw themselves." Sam replied as she set up her sniper rifle. "Though when you think of it, it'd be pretty amusing to see what happens when an AI gets pissed."

"Lets not." Leo peered through his rangefinders. "Okay, I think I spotted them. About six degrees to the right."

Sam aimed her rifle. Due to the large and obtrusive helmet she was wearing, she was unable to use a conventional sniper scope and instead had to opt for a high-resolution camera transmitting visual data directly to her helmet's HUD.

Besides the helmet, sniping in vacuum provided a lot of challenges. Unlike being on a planet, Sam didn't have to worry about physical forces such as gravity and air resistance, which basically meant that she could literally point and shoot and still hit her target. However, the problems were much larger. The vacuum of space was one of the harshest environments imaginable. Only the hardiest weapons could even remotely work, and the severe cold and lack of air required the use of large and bulky vac-suits for survival. Also, with the lack of gravity, firing a rifle could send the gunner flying. Fortunately, Sam was braced to the Pelican's hull with magnetic boots. She had lots of training with space combat, and was actually very good at it. Didn't mean she had to like any of it, however.

"What's the count?"

"About twelve Elites." Leo worked the rangefinders and gasped. "Holy shit… is that who I think it is?"

"What?" Sam scanned her HUD. "I don't see anything."

"Three o' clock, about thirty degrees up."

"I don't see- well hey, what do you know." Sam smirked as she saw a small green blob flitting about in her crosshairs.

"That's the Master Chief, isn't it? Holy shit, it's actually him."

"Mmmmm, he's shorter than I thought."

"I think it's a good time to start doing some shooting. It would be a shame to have his pretty face get wrinkles from dealing with those Elites." The smooth, artificial voice of Cortana quipped.

"Don't rush an artist." Sam aimed and fired. The lead Elite's head disappeared in a cloud of gore and shattered bone. The blood formed into perfect spheres that hung in the air like miniature planets. Before the rest of the Elites had a chance to act, another head exploded and an Elite's breather mask was severed. The Elite squirmed and writhed as it tried to breathe.

"So what's it feel like?"

"Like trying to hold on to a goddamn cannon." Sam fired her last round and quickly reloaded, noting the floating bullet casings bouncing off her visor.

"So how does it feel to be saving the Master Chief's ass?"

"Slightly rewarding." Sam shot an Elite's thrust pack, making it explode and sending several other Elites spinning away helplessly in the void of space.

"Worried about your sis? Heard she was on the _Cairo_." Leo adjusted his sights. "Oh, there's another one just a few degrees down, next to that comm dish.

"I'm more worried about the Chief getting his ass kicked by the Elites you miss." Sam said as she loaded her third clip. "Just keep finding them and I'll keep shooting. Besides, she with the Sarge, and you know that _nothing_ can kill him."

"He that tough?" Barf Bag quipped. Sam frowned. She didn't know he was listening in on their conversations.

Leo retorted, risking having his visor bashed in by Sam. "No, he's just smart enough to stand behind her sister when the Covvies start shooting back."

_**Freedom**_

"Six Covenant cruisers inbound on our location." Joshua warned. "It seems like they've finally noticed us."

Rogers looked at the red blips on the tactical screen. "Which one should I be the most concerned about?"

"Frankly speaking sir?" Joshua's chess pieces shifted around rapidly. "All of them."

"Tell our support ships to form up." Rogers ordered. "And tell them to-"

Suddenly, warning sirens blared and Joshua's avatar flickered on and off.

"What the hell is that?" Rogers yelled.

"Sir, a foreign signal is attempting to hack into our computers systems." Joshua generated a image to three squares. Two of them blue and one mostly red and labeled with the names of the secondary AIs. "It was some sort of covert program, and it has already taken total control of Balthasar. I've only noticed it when it tried to issue an unauthorized self-destruct command and was rejected by Caspar and Melchior. As long as they can maintain a consensus, the foreign program can't do anything, but it's already beginning to subvert Melchior and it won't take long for it to control Caspar after that."

"Where is it coming from?"

"Unknown. The signal is being transmitted through our comm systems, but I cannot determine the point of origin. My best guess is a Covenant prowler hiding in the battle. "

"Solutions?"

"We can cut off all of our comm channels."

"Unacceptable. If we can't stay in contact with the rest of the fleet, there's no way we can coordinate with them. I thought we had excellent counter-hacking software."

"We do, but those were for conventional ship systems. We've never had any system that ran four AIs at once. Backdoors and security breaches are bound to happen, and the program has already obtained a firm foothold in Balthasar. I can slow down its advance, but that's all I can do."

"Our other options?"

"Find and destroy the ship generating the signal."

Rogers frowned. "This gets better and better."

**_Freedom _Computer Network**

Joshua eyed the advancing hordes of the Covenant hacker program and was ready to repel it. His VR programs translated the data into visual media he preferred. Setting up his defense programs, Joshua could see walls rising from the ground, and thousands of miniature soldiers materialize out of nowhere. When they came, he would be ready.

Taking a closer look at the advancing enemy, he noticed that the enemy forces were not acting rigidly, but were actually responding to his movements. Strange, since most programs usually followed a single or limited course of action to carry out their objective. This implied that the Covenant had their own AI.

Interesting.

"Game on." Joshua said to himself, knowing that the mysterious Covenant AI would hear. "Game on."


	10. I'ts a small World After All

Chapter 10: It's a Small World After All

_**Cairo**_

Karla grimaced as she fired a burst of needler rounds down the hall. The explosive needles ricocheted harmlessly off of a wall of energy shielding that a pair of Jackals had set up with their arm shields, and were slowly advancing down the hall. Not only that, but Karla could see a squad of Covenant troops following close behind using the Jackals as cover. The bastards were getting smart.

"Get some frags in there!" She yelled.

Several Marines lobbed more grenades down the hall while a few others rolled them across the floor like oversized marbles. The Jackals, unsure of which way to orient their shields to block the grenades, tried to back up and get out of range, but the press of fellow Covenant soldiers behind them prevented them from taking a step backwards.

Karla winced for a moment as the front of the Covenant column disappeared in several bright flashes of light. When her vision came back, she noticed that the surviving Covenant were beginning to fall back… for now.

"Okay people, yell them out!" Karla said as she checked the status of her small force.

So far, ammo was still plentiful, but two Marines had been killed in the firefight. It was now only her, Paccone, and six Marines left to defend the DCC.

"Did we win the war already?" Paccone wisecracked as he set down his smoking plasma cannon.

"Not in this lifetime." Karla frowned. "You know, I feel really uncomfortable with you always standing behind me like that, especially when you're carrying that monster you call a gun."

"Don't worry, it doesn't bite." Paccone smiled and patted the stolen cannon. "And you know, is it just me, or is there something wrong with these Covvie we've been fighting?"

"Huh?" Karla turned to look at some of the intact corpses lying throughout the hall, and noticed that all of them, including the Elites, seemed be wearing what looked like secondhand armor. Most of it didn't even fit them that well. "Wonderful, we're being pitted against amateurs. Can it be any more degrading than that?"

"Could have been worse. They could have sent in a horde of Hunters."

"Don't remind me of that." Karla listened in on her radio. It looked as if Richards and Williams were doing a good job of holding the line at the other two entrances.

"Here they come!" Private Pench yelled.

Karla and Paccone ducked as a storm of plasma fire from the next wave of Covenant swept down the hall.

'Do they ever give up!" Paccone heaved his plasma cannon and fired.

"Which war were _you_ fighting in?"

Mako scowled as his unit was still being repulsed by the stubborn Human defenders. He directed the last of his troops for one final push. Unfortunately, none of his troops seemed to be in the mood to try for another attempt.

"No way we go in there!" One of the Grunts squealed. "We go in, we die!"

The other Grunts, and to Mako's disgust, some Elites nodded their heads in agreement. Mako shook his head, charged his pistol, and shot the Grunt through the face.

"I will in no way support such acts of cowardice, for I consider it just as blasphemous as heresy!" Mako glared at his fellow soldiers and raised his pistol and plasma sword. "These weapons, they kill heretics, they kill traitors, and they're not fussy about it! And do you know what you are in the eyes of the Prophets?" Mako paused to look at his soldiers. "You are scum! You are Grunt-dung! Your only purpose left in life is to fight and kill the enemy! Even if that means choking them with your dead and dying bodies, as it is the only form of redemption you will find!"

Mako deeply regretted having to shoot the Grunt to make a point, but it was necessary. He didn't even believe half the words in his long rant, but he needed to get the job done.

Without hesitation, the remains of his unit charged down the hall.

**_Freedom _Computer Network**

Joshua frowned at the tactics of his electronic adversary. For an AI, it wasn't too terribly intelligent. Rather than randomizing or changing its tactics, the Covenant AI merely repeated the same tactic over and over again. It was attempting to force its way into the system by sending waves and waves of system requests.

He grinned. The enemy AI was grossly underestimating Joshua's computing abilities. Caspar, Melchoir, and Balthasar may not have been able to handle such huge data loads, but a Class-A AI like Joshua ate these kinds of attacks for breakfast. In the time it took for the massed viral data to reach him, Joshua had already erected three interlocked firewalls and numerous system protection programs along Melchoir's "perimeter". These were all represented by medieval-style castle walls and little blue soldiers. The Covenant AI's hordes of red barbarians finally reached the firewall and slammed into the first wall. However, unknown to the Covenant AI, Joshua had a tiny program in the background tracing the source of the attacks. After all, this overblown virus had to be coming from _somewhere_, and he was determined to find it before it was too late.

_**Freedom**_

"Any sign of the prowler?" Rogers asked.

"Not yet." Joshua's avatar flickered for a brief second. "I'll need a few more minutes."

"We don't _have_ a few more minutes!" Rogers slammed his fist down on his chair. "Those Covenant cruisers are right on top of us!"

"Then I'll just have to work faster." Joshua's avatar flickered out to end the conversation.

Rogers shook his head. "I hate AIs." He muttered. "Arm all weapons! Target the first cruiser!"

The Covenant must have wanted to take his ship out very badly. The cruisers were plowing through the thick of the battle, well in range of the Super MACs. Even a grazing shot from one of the massive cannons was enough to tear an entire cruiser apart. Two of the cruisers took direct hits before reaching weapons range and literally shattered like glass, reducing the oncoming force by a third. Rogers sighed in relief. The odds were tipping into his favor now.

"Fire our MACs and follow up with a missile barrage. Tell the other ships to fire at will." He said to his weapons officer.

"Yes sir!"

Rogers watched as two MAC rounds shot out from the _Freedom_'s sides and sped toward the Covenant cruiser. Seeing what was coming, the cruiser nosed down in an attempt to dodge the shells. The first shell struck its shield at an angle and skipped off like a stone, shearing through a Covenant frigate that had drifted too close to the skirmish. The second shell punched through the cruiser's weakened shield and blew a gaping hole through the engine compartment. The missiles hit just seconds later and armor plating, machinery, and bodies flying in all directions.

"Focus fire on the second cruiser!" Rogers yelled. The first cruiser was out of the fight.

Meanwhile, the other two cruisers flew straight into a screen set up by three UNSC destroyers and a frigate. Both sides traded fire, but several plasma torpedoes reduced the _Flying Tiger_ and _Shining Star _to melted slag. The cruisers punched through the hole they created in the screen, shrugging off the volleys of missiles the remaining UNSC ships were throwing. By the time the defenders could turn around and pursue the Covenant, the _Shammrock_ was suffering from engine trouble, and parts of the _Troubador_ looked like used coal. As of now, the _Freedom _was on its own.

"Incoming plasma torpedoes!" One of the bridge crew yelled.

"Evasive action!"

Rogers could feel the _Freedom_ shifting its position as it attempted to dodge the plasma torpedoes, but sensors indicated at least five coming in from various directions. There was no possible way to dodge them all.

"Plasma torpedo incoming! Distance, five hundred meters and closing!"

"Everybody, brace yourselves!" Rogers held onto his chair.

It felt as if the entire ship was hit by a giant sledgehammer. Loose objects tumbled off of tabletops, lights flickered, and unrestrained crewmen were sent ducking for cover. Rogers pulled himself back up to his seat and yelled "Status!"

"Shields at thirty six percent!"

"Hull integrity holding."

"Weapons still functional."

"Covenant cruisers are closing in!"

"I want targeting solutions on all three! Fire both of our MACs at cruisers three and four respectively! Use our particle cannons on cruiser two! I also want a full missile spread. Use every goddamn missile battery we have!"

"Sir!" One of the bridge crew, Ensign Leeman, her head bleeding from the previous hit, called out. "Our shields are recharging six percent a minute, but I don't think we'll have enough power to weather another torpedo!"

"Transfer power from the engines and use it to boost our shields."

"But sir-" Leeman's mouth dropped. "That'll make us a sitting duck."

Rogers smiled grimly. "We are surrounded by three heavily armed, heavily shielded, and possibly more advanced enemy capital ships, with a space battle of biblical proportions taking place all around us. Do you see any need for maneuverability?"

Leeman hesitated for a moment. "N-no sir."

"Good, now do what I just said."

**Pelican Z-34**

"I think that's all of them." Leo scanned the surface of the _Cairo_. "Don't see anymore Elites coming his way."

"Where'd he go, anyway?" Sam asked, "I kinda lost track of him, with the shooting and all."

"Erm, he just went back inside the station."

"What? And no bit of thank you or recognition?" Leo couldn't see Sam's face through the polarized visor of her vac-suit, but he was sure from her sarcastic tone that Sam wasn't actually hurt.

"It could have been worse." Leo shrugged, though the suit somewhat limited his movements. "He could have jumped a bit too high and get caught in Earth's gravity well…"

"Uh yeah, about that…" Sam pointed at a faint, twinkling light just below the station.

"What the-" Leo zoomed his sights in on the light, and saw the Master Chief flying out of an airlock holding onto a gigantic, pimple shaped object.

Sam cocked her head curiously. "What can he possibly be-"

Suddenly, the Chief and the object hit a passing Covenant cruiser. Both Marines could see the Chief then leap off, leaving the bomb on the ship. Leo was awed by the sheer guts it took to leap out into the vacuum like that. He caught Sam ducking down and covering her visor. In the split second he took to try and ask her what she was doing, his visor automatically turned black to shield his eyes from a massive flash of light.

"Son of a bitch!" Leo cursed, jerking his head away by reflex. "What the hell was that!"

Sam, with her seemingly extraordinary powers of premonition, looked back through her scope. Because her head was turned away, her visor and vision were still intact. "Well, the Chief apparently just killed an entire Covenant cruiser… by himself. Sure puts those poor Navy boys to shame."

"Hey! I heard that!" Barfbag whined.

"Just be quiet. You might as well dock us already." Sam peered out to the vast battle happening all around. "There's nothing more we can do here."

_**Freedom**_

Rogers blinked in surprise as he saw cruiser three explode in a ball of blue plasma.

"What the hell just happened?"

"I don't know sir, but it appears to have been an internal explosion."

"Well, I'm not complaining." Rogers glanced at the data screen. "Give me an update on the other cruisers."

"Cruiser two is on fire and listing. The particle beams have cut deep into its armor, and its power output is decreasing. Combat effectiveness down to an estimated 2."

"And the other cruiser?"

"It's shrugged off the MAC rounds and the missiles, and its trying to get a firing solution on us."

"Our shields?"

"Sixty five percent and rising."

Rogers grimaced. If the cruiser's shields could hold off that much damage and stay intact, it was obviously outfitted with better equipment. And if it had better shields, chances were that it had better weapons as well.

Both the _Freedom_ and the Covenant cruiser were on a head-on collision course. The _Freedom_, using all of its power to recharge shielding, had barely any power left to move at all. The cruiser, on the other hand, was intent on destroying the ship, even if was reduced to ramming it, since the UNSC obviously had much more to lose in this fight. Sensing a kill, the cruiser sped up and closed in, firing its plasma torpedoes as fast as the turrets could cycle.

Rogers gripped his seat as both ships ruthlessly traded fire. Shields sparked and flashed as they tried to repel energy and high explosive. Armor plating and hull was punctured, shredded, and melted. After the first volley of fire, both ships had no shields left and heavy damage.

"Status!" Rogers yelled. He tried to look on the tac screen to get a view of the battle, but noticed that the screen had shattered in the fury of the assault.

"Shields down! Hull breaches on decks three, seven, and fifteen! Injury reports are flooding in!"

"Starboard MAC is offline!"

"Reports of fires in several sections of the ship-"

"Put the reactor in overcharge! Get those shields back up as fast as we can!"

"Sir, the maximum safe levels for the reactor are only 115-"

"Then make it 120! We can't afford to weather this next volley with just our hull!"

The fact that a stray torpedo slammed into the _Freedom_'s flank seemed to reinforce his point.

"I'm overcharging the reactor now, sir." The bridge officer started typing in commands. With the AI systems being corrupted by the virus or tied up trying to fight it off, most of the duties involved with power management had to be done manually now. "Chief Girrad says he can do it, but we'll only have a three minute window before the reactors melt down."

"More than enough." Rogers looked at the enemy cruiser straight ahead, plunging in for the kill like a vicious lion.

"Shields at thirty percent!"

"Fire everything we have!" Rogers ordered.

The Covenant cruiser fired its plasma torpedoes at the same time the _Freedom_ fired its particle beams. The volleys of energy lanced through space and seemingly passed straight through each other as they headed for their targets. Traveling at basically near the speed of light, the particle beams hit the cruiser first. Five beams struck the cruiser simultaneously. Three managed to penetrate the shields, though two of the beams depleted most of their energy punching through the shields, and only managed to scorch the cruiser's hull plating. The third beam, however, struck gold completely gutted the cruiser's drive systems. Rogers could see the cruiser begin to drift. Without its engines, the ship would get caught in Earth's gravity well and burn up in the atmosphere.

Destroyed by Earth's own natural forces. How fitting. Rogers grinned at the irony, but hoped that the same wouldn't happen to him.

The cruiser had fired all seven of its plasma torpedoes. With the shields only partially charged, there was no way they could repel the massive energy attack. The shields managed to deflect the first two torpedoes, and weakened the next two. Unfortunately, that left three more torpedoes to strike the _Freedom_ unopposed. One torpedo gouged through the ship's starboard flank, incinerating the hull and several decks. The other two torpedoes struck at the same point on the ship, and completely destroyed the Longsword hangars. Secondary explosions rippled across the hull as stored munitions and fuel ignited.

"Damage!" Rogers yelled over the warning klaxons.

"Shields down! Multiple hull breaches on all decks! Fires raging in various points!'

"Reactor temperature levels are rising past safety thresholds!"

"We've lost twenty percent of our weapons strength!"

"Shut down the reactors!" Rogers ordered. "And use our remaining power to stabilize our orbit. And get our repair crews to fix what they can. We have to keep this shi p in fighting condition."

**_Freedom _Computer Systems**

Joshua grimaced as the last firewall protecting Melchoir finally buckled under the merciless digital assaults the Covenant AI was throwing at him. Knowing that there wasn't much time left, Joshua retreated to Caspar and began erecting its antiviral defenses. Meanwhile, his tracker programs were still trying to locate the source of the signal. He had managed to narrow the search area, but still did not have a good fix on the specific location.

The game was still ongoing, and it was a race to see who would win first.

_**Cairo**_

"Oh my god." Karla muttered as she peered around the corner.

"What is it?" Paccone asked as he lobbed a grenade down the hall.

'It's that goddamn Elite." Karla checked her plasma rifle to make sure it was charged. "The one that freaking punched me."

"Well go get him, girl. I'll cover things from this end." Paccone grinned and fired his heavy plasma cannon, torching a group of Grunts.

Karla focused her sights on the red-armored Elite charging down the hall. He seemed to be the obvious leader, and from the troops around him were on the verge of breaking, Karla was sure that killing him would shatter their morale. She raised her rifle and pumped a trio of shots straight into its chest. The Elite's shields sparked and failed, causing the Elite to hesitate. Karla took the chance and followed up with her needler. Unfortunately, the Elite's armor managed to deflect most of the explosive shrapnel, sending the needles flying all over the hull.

Mako, with his shields down and his armor being assaulted by explosive needles, stumbled backward. Seeing that their leader was in danger, Mako's fellow troops charged with renewed fervor. The human attacking him seemed to notice this and hesitate. Mako acted quickly, launching himself at the human and tackling her to the ground.

Karla was caught by surprise as the Elite landed on top of her. Thinking fast, she let go of the plasma rifle and smashed her palms straight into the Elite's chin, snapping its head back and stunning it. She then clubbed it in the side of the head with her needler, drawing blood from the razor sharp edge of the weapon.

Meanwhile, Paccone tried to move forward to support her, but the plasma cannon chose that exact moment in time to overheat and melt. Cursing, Paccone tossed the weapon aside and drew his pistol, but couldn't get a clear shot.

Karla, meanwhile, was in the worst position any Marine could imagine, being caught in a hand to hand situation with the Covenant. Fortunately, she managed to knock the Elite over with a solid kick in its chestplate. Aiming her needler directly at the Elite's head, she muttered, "Eat this."

Mako, who had no idea what the human over him was doing, made a risky call. He grabbed the human's foot planted on his chest and twisted, bringing the human right down on top of him.


	11. Those Funny Feelings

Chapter 11: Those Funny Feelings

_**Cairo**_

Karla gasped as she fell onto the Elite's chest. Thinking quickly, she pulled her pistol from its holster and tried to shoot the Elite at point blank range with it. Unfortunately, the Elite managed to slap the pistol out of her hands. The Elite then rolled over, pinning Karla to the ground with its massive arms. Karla thought for a brief moment that it was all over. However, she flinched as a plasma bolt blinded her and struck the Elite in the face, knocking it down on its back again. Karla could see Paccone cursing and tossing away the overheating plasma cannon. Taking the opportunity, Karla reached out to try and get her pistol, but she couldn't find it anywhere.

Mako growled as he picked himself up from the ground. This human was proving to be extremely agitating, and he had already wasted too much time trying to kill her. It was time to end this once and for all. He clawed for his plasma pistol but was surprised to end up one of the crude human pistols in his hand. There wasn't really much time to complain, so Mako awkwardly worked his hand into the pistol's trigger and was about to aim when his communicator buzzed.

"All units!" The commanding voice of the attack force's commander, Shelamee barked. "All units are to pull back and retreat to the transports!"

Mako could hear the collective surprise and mortification of his fellow Elite on the battle network, but Shelamee didn't waste any time explaining himself.

"These are on the orders to the Prophet! Do not question them!"

The mention of a Prophet immediately shut everybody up. Nobody ever dared have second thoughts about an order a Prophet made. However, Mako was left to wonder whether all of those troops who sold their lives in these accursed halls had really done it for a meaningful purpose. He shook those thoughts out of his head. Such things were heresy, and the Prophets purportedly always knew what was best.

_You know that's a lie._

Mako stopped for a heartbeat. For a second, he thought he had heard somebody speaking to him. A passing rifle round snapping him back to attention, and he began to pull the remnants of his unit back to their transport. He completely forgot that the human pistol was still in his hand.

Karla blinked when she realized that the hallway was completely empty. It seemed as if the entire Covenant attack force had suddenly given up and disappeared. She instructed the remaining Marines to secure the area and chase down any stragglers. She then blankly looked around, and suddenly realized that-

"That bastard stole my pistol!" she cried angrily.

"Hey, my new cannon just melted into a pile of slag, so I'm hurting as much as you are here." Paccone said, looking glumly at the remains of the short-lived weapon.

"That was the pistol Major Mackenzie gave me!" Karla slammed her fist into the side of the wall. "I'm going to hunt down and disembowel that fucking bastard!"

"Whoa, I know that pistol was given to you by your favorite old major, but seriously, _it's just a pistol_. You're lucky that Elite didn't twist your head off."

Karla glared at Paccone. "There are several good reasons why I liked that pistol so much. First, it was given to me by 'my favorite old major'. Second, I've had that pistol for as long as I've been fighting this damn war. And third, that was an M6D pistol, which is infinitely better than those crap M6Es they've been handing out."

"Don't worry, I'm sure I've got a few extra stashed away somewhere." Paccone grinned. "How would you like a pistol given to you by your favorite ol' sergeant?"

"It wouldn't be the same." Karla sighed.

**Pelican Bay**

"Hi there Tarin!" Sam said happily as she leapt out of the docked Pelican. 'Hi there…." She paused, "You know, I've never found out what your first name was, Sergeant Williams."

"Nobody ever bothers to ask." Williams said glumly.

Before Sam had a chance to ask Williams his first name, the rest of her squad began to exit the Pelican.

"Wow!" Kumi said as she saw the piles of Covenant dead scattered around the bay. "You guys have certainly been busy while we were away."

"Oh yeah, and we got to see the Master Chief!" Leo said proudly.

"Uhhh, so did we." Williams replied.

"Oh…" Leo sighed.

Sam laughed and elbowed Leo playfully. "Don't worry, I'm sure it happens all the time."

"Well, I'm certainly glad everything turned out well." Scohar said. "I wonder, what's the state of the rest of the station?"

"Oh, that's right." Tarin blinked. "Captain Wellings just called in. She said that once you reached the station, we were to prepare for immediate departure."

"What? But we just got here!" Barfbag groaned and slunk back to his cockpit.

**_Freedom_ Computer Network**

Joshua grimaced as his last firewall began to wear away. This Covenant AI may have lacked any sort of imagination, but with the limited resources at his command, Joshua didn't have a lot to work with. Right now, the AI was trying out its same old tactic. It was using its siege engines to try and break though the firewall port. Joshua checked in on his tracking program, but it was still not showing any success in finding where the attacks were coming from.

He watched on as his defense programs effectively deleted the next wave of siege engines. Tiny digital arrows buzzed about and blew the little constructs apart. Finally, he was pinged by his tracker programs.

"I finally found you, you little piece of garbage."

Joshua was caught off guard by his opponent's sudden and unsophisticated reply.

"Nononononononononoononononononononononono. Youcantseeme. Youcantseeme. Youcantseeme. Youcantseeme. Youcantseemeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."

The only way an AI would talk like that was if was suffering from severe data corruption. Joshua suddenly realized why the AI was so unsophisticated. The Covenant may have figured out how to make an AI, but they apparently didn't get it right. With trash programming like this running their systems, Joshua wouldn't be surprised if he saw Covenant ships suddenly flying into black holes.

**Bridge**

"I've tracked the signal, Captain." Joshua announced proudly.

"It's about time." Rogers said happily. "Pinpoint it."

"I would like to point out that even though we know where it is, we have no power left to use any of our MACs or particle cannons." Joshua said matter-of-factly.

Rogers didn't like Joshua's upbeat tone. "Joshua, is this whole situation a game or a battle to you?"

"What's the difference?" he said simply.

Rogers shook his head. Damn AIs.

"However, I do believe we have a way to retaliate." Joshua continued.

"Oh? And how do we do that?"

"We can manually program and launch our remaining missiles. Unlike our primary weapons systems, the Archer missiles have their own independent power sources. The biggest issue is just getting them off the launch racks."

Rogers summoned the Marine he was using as his personal runner. Due to the power shortage, many of the ship's basic systems like the intercoms and even the door servos had to be shut down to conserve energy until the reactor cooled down.

"Run down the missile control deck, and tell the gunners to prep the Archer missiles and target this heading." Rogers hastily scribbled down the coordinates and targeting data on a scrap of paper and shoved it into the Marine's hand. "Go, do it now!"

The Marine gave a quick salute and hastily exited the bridge.

"So how are things going on your end, Joshua?" Roger asked, slumping back into his chair.

"Not very well, I'm afraid. The virus has managed to attach itself to ninety two percent of the network. I estimate that we have roughly seven minutes left."

"Well, it's a good thing that a trained missile crew can perform a successful manual launch in just five minutes then." Rogers checked his watch. "You're sure it'll take that long."

"If the virus keeps performing the same tactic its been doing for the past half hour, yes." Joshua paused for a second. "Would you like to play a game?"

Rogers shook his head and counted the minutes.

**Cairo**

"You know, I find you a lot hotter when you're wearing the standard Marine green." Paccone smiled. "It makes you look almost… divine."

"If you're trying to seduce me," Karla said coolly as she pulled on her ballistic vest, "try not to remind me of my old drill sergeant in boot. I already have more bad memories than I care to like."

They were both in the Marine locker where all of their combat equipment was stored. Karla grimaced as she realized just how much useful equipment she left lying around in the locker.

"It was worth a try." Paccone shrugged. "Oh yeah, and here's that pistol I promised you."

He tossed a brand new M6D to Karla, who casually caught it and holstered it along with her plasma sword.

"I'd really like to know where you get all these extra weapons." She said.

"If I told you, you would have to do a favor for me, and I know for a fact that you'll probably kill me because of it."

"Probably."

"Yeah, and where exactly are we going? All I heard was the 'Pelican happy fun time' boarding call was issued, and that was about it."

"Well, apparently, we did such a great job defending the station, Hood decided to kick us all off of the _Cairo_ and dump us back into what's left of the _Freedom_."

"Well, those are the merits of a successful command."

"Oh yeah, and I think he wanted to talk to you about something." Karla grinned diabolically, "Um, I think it had something to do with a certain hole in a wall…"

Paccone got up quickly. "I think we'd better get to the Pelican bay fast."

_**Freedom**_

"Missiles are armed and ready, sir." Joshua announced.

"Have they fired yet?"

"Missiles are away and tracking their target."

Joshua reverted back into the computer network and ran a query on the Covenant AI's attack. It was still stalled on his final firewall, and the enemy AI was throwing even more junk data at it. It was probably afraid that now it was found, it would soon be destroyed. For the first time, it was right.

"Iwillwin. Iwillwin. Iwillwin. Iwillwin. Iwillwin. Iwillwin. Iwillwin." It droned on and on.

"Correction." Joshua smiled. "I _already_ won."

The pirate signal suddenly cut out, and the last thing Joshua heard was a warbling shriek as the Covenant AI's data cores were vaporized.

Meanwhile, Rogers watched as what was previously empty space suddenly flash and explode into a cloud of metal debris and fire. The missiles were right on target, and the Covenant prowler ship did not even know what had hit it.

"We got him?"

"We got him." Joshua confirmed.

"The reactor has cooled to manageable levels." One of the bridge crew said, "Power now up to twenty percent of maximum."

The comm units suddenly buzzed to life, and with their full resources online, Joshua was able to receive new data from the battle networks and update his information drives.

"What's the situation?" Rogers asked as he gazed out across the vast battle taking place.

"Hold on." Joshua buzzed for a second as he interpreted the terabytes of data flowing in. "The overall battle has reached a stalemate. Covenant fleet is unable to advance, but the UNSC forces are unable to push them back. A single Covenant cruiser has breached the line and has landed in the city of Mombasa for unknown reasons. _In Amber Clad_ is already en route to land ground forces to repel the invasion."

"That sounds very nasty." Rogers scanned the data readouts. "What are supposed to do?"

"Sensor readouts show a small Covenant task force attempting to follow _In Amber Clad._ Admiral Hood has ordered us to stay in high orbit, act as a rearguard to _In Amber Clad_, and repel any Covenant ships attempting to follow it. We are also to commit our troops to support the _In Amber Clad_'s complement of Marines."

"What's the status of our troops?"

"Major Mackenzie has our ground forces prepped and ready. Two divisions of Marines and an armored company are already being loaded onto the dropships. The troops we've garrisoned on the _Cairo_ have just returned as well."

"Alright." Rogers cracked his knuckles. "How much of the ship is repaired?"

"We have one MAC, three particle cannons, and twelve Archer missile batteries still intact. Repairs on commencing on the other weapons but two MACs, one particle cannon, and fourteen missile batteries are complete losses. Shields are only recharging to seventy percent of previous strength. Admiral Hood is aware of our predicament, and is sending the repair platform _Trinity_ to assist in repairs."

"Well, as long as we don't have to go head to head with another Covenant cruiser, we should be fine." Rogers cracked his knuckles. "Engines to full power. Weapons, target the nearest Covenant ship, and make your shots count."

**_Freedom _Loading Bay**

"Leo."

"Yeah?"

Sam shivered. "I'm getting that feeling again."

"What, your stomach acting up again? I told you not to trust those cooks…"

"No, it's not that." Sam said irritably. "I've got that feeling that we're about to go into combat again."

"I'm not surprised." Kumi pointed out of the bay doors. "All freaking hell is breaking loose out there. I would be surprised if we _didn't_ get involved in something."

"Where do you think we're going?" Sam asked.

"I don't know… Mombasa?" Scohar guessed.

Kumi laughed. "Mombasa? I don't think even the Covenant would be dumb enough to try and take a dump like that."

"Twenty bucks says they are." Sam replied.

"But you don't have any money." Leo said.

"I don't, but you do." Sam grinned.

Leo shook his head. "Why do I even bother?" He glared at Scohar. "What makes you so sure it's Mombasa?"

"I don't know, but I think it's the same reason she thinks so." Scohar pointed to Sam and shrugged. "It's just a hunch."


	12. Shiela

Chapter 12: Shiela

**Old Mombasa**

"I think you owe me twenty dollars." Sam smiled as the Pelican shook.

"I was kind of hoping that we crash and die, just so I don't have to pay you." Kumi grumbled.

"All right ladies and gentlemen!" Paccone yelled as he stepped out of the cockpit. Somehow he managed to stay standing, even though the Pelican and bucking and shaking from the vigors of atmospheric reentry. "The kind folks in UNMC Command have decided to reward our hard work defending the _Cairo_ by dumping us onto Earth and defending this little corner of nowhere called Mombasa."

Paccone tapped several keys on the side of the ship and a mini holo-projector activated, representing a likeness of the city of Mombasa.

"As you know, like most modern cities, Mombasa is dividing into an old and new section. Satellite scans show that the majority of the Covenant are focused around New Mombasa, but there are still quite a number them running around Old Mombasa. The plan here is that the bulk of the Marine forces land in Old Mombasa, sweep it clean, and then close in on New Mombasa." Paccone glanced at his squad, who still stayed silent.

"But apparently, landing in Old Mombasa is just _too good_ for us." He continued on, "Our superiors, with their infinite knowledge, have decided to dump us in the middle of New Mombasa to assist the _In Amber Clad_ Marines already in there and relay information back to the main assault force."

"Uh, sir." Leo raised his hand. "Any word on the numbers we're facing?"

'Were you not listening to what I was saying for the last three minutes?"

"You don't know, do you?"

"You sound surprised, Private!" Paccone grinned and shouldered a large rifle case. "Besides, I'd like to see the lack of intel as something of a challenge."

"There we go." Barfbag yelled as the Pelican slowed to stop. "We're right over the insertion point. Now get off of my ship, you damn freeloaders!"

The small squad of Marines quickly exited the hovering Pelican, hauling their equipment with them. They had been offloaded on an abandoned parking structure. There were still dozens of derelict cars scattered about. Sam waved as Barfbag's Pelican pulled away, but not before waggling the craft in a sign of farewell. Sam then noticed the large rifle case Paccone was hauling and asked, "Sir, what exactly is that?"

Paccone looked up. "Oh, this thing?" He patted the side of the case. "It's a little surprise for the Covvies prancing around down there."

"Speaking of Covvies." Kumi glanced over the edge into the street below. "I see them. _Lots_ of them."

**Lower Old Mombasa**

"I can't believe we got stuck with a scrapheap like this." Blair Cowall shook his head as he glanced at the dirty, scraped up, and obviously worn-down Scorpion tank sitting on the dusty parking lot, his thick Scottish accent hiding none of his disgust. "I'm already missing _Amanda_. A good tank, she was."

"Hey, as long as its got a giant gun that works, I'm not complaining." The girl standing next to Blair, Karen Zimmerman, grinned as she eyed the Scorpion's cannon. "Looks to be about 120 mil, just like _Amanda_."

"That's easy for you to say." Cowall sniffed. "All you do is point and shoot. You're not the one who's got to actually drive the damn thing."

"Shut it, both of you." Tank Captain Adrian Wrall snapped as he walked up. "With the manpower and equipment shortages Major Mackenzie's been dealing with, we're lucky to even _have_ a tank."

"I'd rather be given a stick and walk into battle than get myself stuck in that metal deathtrap."

"It can't be all that bad." Shion Cumberland said hopefully.

Adrian sighed as he took another look at his "new" tank. Most tank crews usually nicknamed their tanks, such as how he and his crew had named their last tank _Amanda_. Hidden under a layer of scorched and chipped paint, there was a barely legible word that revealed the tank's name when it served under its previous owners. _Shiela _was an ancient Scorpion model M1A1. They were a very popular and advanced line… if you lived about twenty or thirty years ago. Hell, _Shiela_ was probably older than half his crew. Most of the Scorpions today were brand new M4A3 models, just three years old. Too keep up with the times, _Shiela_ was apparently heavily modified and upgraded with both standard and nonstandard equipment that gave her odd performance capabilities.

Another strange aspect of _Shiela_ was her service record. Over the past few decades, she had passed through numerous crews and owners, but never staying with any single one for very long. Many of the superstitious tank crews believed that _Shiela _was cursed, and that any tank crew stuck with her was doomed to an ugly fate. Adrian and his crew contemplated investigating further into _Shiela's _past, but later agreed that some things are better left unknown.

But Adrian couldn't help but smile. If any crew could get _Shiela_ to perform well, it was his. Blair "Scottie" Cowall was the best driver he had ever seen. He always knew where his tank could and couldn't go, what terrain would suit him best, and even if there was the likelihood that the ground was mined. He also took any damage to his tank as a personal attack against him, often cursing and screaming when they took a hit. Blair also despised the nickname "Scottie", but with his amusing Scottish accent, it was just impossible to call him anything else.

There was lovable old Karen "Kazi" Zimmerman. She was loud, abrasive, sarcastic, and rude to the extreme, but always in a good natured way. She was also one of the best gunners Adrian knew and could fire a tank shell with accuracy and lethality like you could never believe. Unlike Scottie, she didn't mind her nickname, and was often seen laughing in genuine joy, brushing her long brown hair out of her eyes as she watched her target explode.

And then there was sweet little Shion Cumberland, with her shoulder length red/brown hair and pinkish-brown shaded eyes. Adrian had the suspicion that Shion illegally signed up, because just taking one look at her, you could bet money that she was fourteen or fifteen. Regardless, Adrian still didn't know much about her personally, as she was a replacement for his last loader, Loran Kris, who died along with the _Amanda_ back on Aeola. As a loader, Adrian had seen that she was perfectly able to handle the demanding duties as a loader by monitoring and handling the Scorpion's autoloading systems.

Overall, Adrian had the makings of a good crew. The only wild card here was if _Shiela_ could perform up to their expectations. He had hoped to have some time to try out _Shiela_ under controlled conditions, but the needs of war meant he and his crew had to go in uncertain of what their tank would do. Fortunately, the mission was simple enough. He and a squad of three other Scorpion tanks were tasked to support a Marine Mechanized Company as they drove into New Mombasa.

"Alright. Let's get this baby fired up and ready to go. We're heading out in fifteen minutes."

Meanwhile, just several hundred feet away Karla was busy getting her company fired up for the coming battlefield. She was aware of the fact that she was going to be working with armor in this run, but she didn't mind. She had fought with Scorpion tanks before, and knew that she could count on them for heavy support when she needed it. She also liked the fact that Scorpions were magnets for enemy fire, which drew most of it away from her more vulnerable Warthogs, though she never publicly voiced this view.

"Get them rolling, Captain Wellings." Major Mackenzie's familiar voice crackled through the radio. "We're on the timer here."

Karla motioned to her platoon leaders to start moving and quickly radioed the tank squad commander to get his tanks moving as well.

"Captain Colan just given us the go." Adrian announced, closing the tank hatch. "Let's get this girl moving."

Adrian could hear the familiar hum as _Shiela's_ engines began powering up, until there was an ugly shrieking sound that sounded like metal being crunched like cornflakes. Of course, something like that was often very _very_ bad, and was confirmed by Scottie's cursing.

"Goddamn piece of junk!" Scottie slammed his fist down onto his control console and began to pry open the driver's hatch. "Stupid engine's stalled!"

"Well, we're off to a _great_ start, aren't we, Captain?" Kazi grinned.

Adrian sighed and glanced at Shion, who only smiled and shrugged. He had the sudden and disgusting feeling that they were all going to die in this tank.

**New Mombasa**

Mako growled as he stood by Field Marshal Shelamee along with his fellow officers. Personally, Mako despised Shelamee and would like nothing more than to stab his plasma sword into his chest. However, Shelamee was the ranking Elite here, and Mako was nothing more than a lowly Junior Marshal of a Displaced Individual Unit. However, it wasn't like he had any personal dislike for the Elite. Mako hated Shelamee because of his inept tactical planning and strategy. He was very "direct" in his tactics, often leading his forces into headlong charges at the enemy lines, and he often preferred to use vast legions of forces in large, compact formations. His tactics were similar to those of the human general dubbed "Napoleon", and Mako felt that those tactics were just as old and useless as the dead human general.

Now, it wasn't as if he was concerned with the loss of his DIU. They were all expendable anyway. What really concerned Mako, however, was the fact that his tactics often wasted the lives of perfectly honorable and proud Elites as well, who deserved a better chance at living. Mako realized that Shelamee's current tactics were suicidal. They were in an urban environment where it was difficult for Shelamee's legions to move, and as history proved, the humans specialized in urban combat where their low numbers and inferior technology were not major detriments.

What also kept bothering Mako was the fact that it always felt as if Holy was there watching him, as if he were standing behind his back. Mako wasn't quite sure what to think of it. On one hand, Mako respected and loved Holy as a brother, and as an individual who shared his own personal views. On the other hand, he felt nothing but contempt because he took those views too far and turned heretic.

"And that is our overall attack plan. We shall hold this position and sweep the humans here off the face of existence." Shelamee finished, snapping Mako back to attention.

"But Field Marshal," One of the Elites stepped forward. "We still have forces stranded in Old Mombasa. What shall we do with them?"

"Nothing." Shelamee sniffed. "They will fight to the last and occupy the human troops while we secure the Prophet."

Mako's contempt for Shelamee rose a few more points that day.

**New Mombasa Parking Structure C**

"That's… quite a lot of them." Scohar said, looking over the side. There were easily over two hundred Covenant troops marching in formation in the street below them, with armor support.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Scohar." Kumi rolled her eyes.

"Ha, just more targets." Sam laughed as she polished her scope and took a firing position.

"Plan, sir?" Leo asked, a slight hint of anxiety in his voice.

"We kill them all, Private." Paccone said simply, prying open the supply crate Barfbag dropped for them. He reached in and hauled out a Jackhammer rocket launcher. "It's just that simple."

"So I guess that whole 'recon' thing is moot."

"At least you understand the meaning of the word, Carter." Paccone laughed. "Me? I'm not so good at doing subtle."

"Shouldn't we be like, counting their numbers or something?" Sam asked as she steadied her rifle.

"You can do that once we start counting the bodies." Paccone checked to make sure the Jackhammer was loaded.

"Let's do this, then." Kumi grinned.

"You have the honor of taking the first shot, Wellings."

"I love this job." Sam beamed. She slowly took aim, making sure her crosshair was hover just above the head of an Elite riding a Wraith tank.She slowly exhaled, relaxed and fired.


	13. Scratch My Back

Chapter 13: Scratch my Back

**New Mombasa**

Shiz Maramee never had a chance to enjoy his new command. The Wraith commander tumbled down the hatch and back into his tank, his brains leaking out of the hole in his head. It was only milliseconds later that the other Covenant troops were alerted by the signature _crack_ of a sniper rifle. Before they even had a chance to take cover, however, grenades clattered down from above and a rocket came screaming down like a vengeful beast. Covenant troops were thrown in the air like rag dolls while the dearly departed Maramee's Wraith tank exploded in a hail of shrapnel and fire.

Confused, the rest of the Covenant force began firing wildly at the buildings around them while trying to find cover. The Marine squad managed to inflict around twenty more casualties before the Covenant caught on and began focusing their fire on the parking garage the Marines were hiding in.

"All right, fall back!" Paccone yelled.

One by one, the other Marines began pulling back from the edge of the railing and retreated across a pedestrian bridge that connected the garage to an office building that was out of the Covenant's line of fire.

"Come on Sam, let's get out of here!" Leo said, getting nervous at the increasing fire.

"You go first. I'll catch up!" Sam stayed behind for several more seconds as she zeroed in to pick off one last Elite.

Mako cursed as a bullet struck his head. Fortunately for him, the bullet had hit at an angle and bounced off his shields. Still, it felt as if his head were struck by a naval cruiser at full speed. His vision blacked out for a split second, and Mako suddenly found himself sprawled on the floor. Instinctively, he tried to get, but then realized he had just given away the fact that he was still alive to the sniper.

Sam silently chastised herself for failing to get a clean kill shot on the Elite. She tried to aim for a second shot, but an energy rifle beam shot past her a little too close for comfort. Even though the Covenant snipers were not even close tot he caliber of the Marines, they were still competent enough to zero in on a target if it stayed in one spot too long.

"Wellings, get your ass over here!" Paccone yelled.

Not wasting a second, Sam picked up her rifle and cleared the garage rail. She took one last glance at the Covenant force below, and reckoned that they had inflicted about fifty casualties. Maybe thirty dead and twenty wounded. Not bad for a squad of green Marines.

Mako found himself conflicted with his emotions. One on hand, he was saddened to see that Malamee had been killed in the initial ambush. Mako had known and respected the commander for being fair and tactically sound. On the other hand, Mako felt a perverse delight at the senior Elite's death. With Malamee gone, Mako was the most high ranking Elite remaining, which meant that Malamee's entire force was now technically under his control. It was a command that Mako felt that he long deserved, though at the cost of a fellow Elite's life.

He looked as his troops began to clear the road. Unfortunately, they had no time to stick around for very long. They had to secure this sector of the city and with the human forces closing in, they had to find defensive positions fast, not to mention that staying put would just be asking for another ambush like the one that just hit them minutes ago. The dead were thrown unceremoniously onto the side of the street, the wounded were loaded onto waiting vehicles, and the wrecked Wraith was shoved aside. He had to keep moving. It would not be long before the ambushers called in their infernal air support to destroy the rest of them.

**Eignub Inc. Office Building**

"I told you, don't bother." Leo sighed as Kumi tried to radio for air support. "Any decent officer would know to get his ass out of there after an ambush, even the Covvie ones."

"It's not that Leo, I'm trying to get a satellite scan." Kumi replied, still trying to find a frequency not hampered by the Covenant jamming. "Sam's spotted something just two miles south of here, but she can't quite make out what it is."

Leo turned to Sam, who had her rifle mounted on a nearby desk and was peering out the window.

"There's something out there." Sam squinted through her scope. "It's being shielded by those buildings over there, so I can't make out what it is, but there's definitely something there."

"Sarge?" Leo glanced over at Paccone, who was scouting out another pedestrian bridge. "What do you make of it?"

"I've got an idea, but you really don't want to know." Paccone sealed the bridge hatch and moved onto the next one. "Scohar! I want you to secure the stairwells and elevators! Plant some Whiplash mines and make sure any Covvies that want to come get second thoughts."

Scohar nodded and moved off, reaching into his pack for the explosives. Kumi meanwhile finally managed to pierce the interference.

"Okay, I've got LandScan Seven ready and waiting. Give me a position."

"Grid sixteen."

Kumi repeated the words through her radio and said, "Okay, visual feed is coming in three, two, one."

Everybody's HUD began to display a high resolution scan of a section of New Mombasa. Sam kept a close eye on the map, until she spotted a small, pixilated blob trudging slowly down a street. She squinted a little, and waited for the picture to magnify before discovering that it wasn't just one very large blob, but three fairly large-

"Scarabs." Paccone said simply. "Never thought I'd see those things again."

"Oh jesus." Kumi bit her lip. She looked as if she were on the verge of cracking. "_Three_ Scarabs? We are so dead!"

"Keep it together, Private!" Paccone barked. Snapping all of the Marines back to attention.

Leo raised his hand. "Permission to speak sir?"

"Go ahead."

"Frankly, I don't even think a Spartan can stop one of those things, sir."

"Don't be silly." Paccone cracked a smile. The one he usually gave when he recalled some past battle. "Now I know that Scarabs may look big and scary, but they're not nearly as indestructible as people say they are. Why, me and Karla managed to take one down just by ourselves one time..."

"You're kidding." Kumi shook her head.

"Well, don't worry. If it moves, we can kill it. Isn't that right, Sam?" Paccone eyed the sniper as she peered out the window again.

"They're splitting up." Sam said as she adjusted her scope. "One is headed deeper into New Mombasa. One is headed for Old Mombasa, and the third… oh shit."

Leo grimaced. "I don't like the sound of that."

"The third one has just turned, and it's headed straight in our direction."

"We're screwed!" Kumi was beginning to panic, and Leo was inclined to follow her lead until Paccone shouted.

"Sit down and shut up, Private! I've killed things so ugly, so nasty, and so goddamn scary that even the mention of such said things will be enough to make you shit out a kidney!" Paccone glared at Leo and Sam, who remained silent. "Now, we can kill this thing easily as long as you understand how it works. A Scarab is basically just a big walking tank. That's it. Kill the crew, and it's just a big useless hunk of metal. Now get your shit together, because we're moving out in five! Anything else you might want to add?"

"I think we're going to need harpoons and tow cables, sir." Sam wisecracked.

At that moment, Scohar burst in from one of the stairwell doors. He glanced around somewhat blankly at his fellow Marines and asked, "Did I just miss something?"

**Old Mombasa**

Just minutes after the convoy began rolling, the mechanized column had already blown through at least three minor skirmishes, often with Covenant stragglers. Of course, not much could stand between an entire Warthog company and a quintuplet of Scorpion tanks. The devastated buildings and dead Covenant left in their wake was testament to their armored fury.

In order to keep from having all of her resources bottled up a tight and vulnerable group, Karla had split her forces into four columns. Each column was lead by a Scorpion tank (in the case of Karla's column, two tanks) and had one platoon of sixteen Warthogs following close behind for support. Each column took a separate street to make the sweep more efficient, and to spread out the human forces so they could react faster. Unfortunately, the streets of Old Mombasa were not designed for heavy traffic in mind, and the columns were always having to constantly change direction or reverse when they met a dead end or bottleneck.

If they were fighting a more tactically adept force, Karla knew that they would have taken complete advantage of the situation. With the narrow streets and bottlenecks, just a platoon of men with proper anti-vehicle weaponry could hold off an entire armored company for hours. Fortunately, the Covenant had little grasp on actual tactics, and preferred to just bum rush any enemy they saw, regardless of how badly they were outclassed.

Suddenly, Karla had an unnerving feeling that something was wrong. Compelled to look up into the sky, she caught sight of a Wraith plasma bolt falling right on top of her column.

"All units, scatter!" Karla screamed into her radio.

Acting quickly, the rest of the Warthogs immediately veered off into side streets and alleys to avoid the plasma bolt. However, the Scorpion tanks and the leading vehicles could only speed forward, since their section of road did not branch anywhere.

The mass of energy slammed into the middle of the street with unprecedented precision. Seconds later, more plasma began to rain down, hitting buildings, roasting trees, and melting derelict vehicles. To Karla's horror, she saw one plasma bolt slam into the base of a building, incinerating its foundations and causing it to tip over across the street, essentially cutting her column in two.

Finally, the rain of plasma stopped. The Covenant gunners had either lost their interest or found a better target to direct their fire. Karla took the chance to check up on her unit. So far, she only had two Scorpion tanks and three Warthogs, including hers. She picked up her radio and tried to contactthe rest of her column.

"We're okay here." Sergeant Riker replied. "No serious casualties or damage, but it could've gotten really nasty if you hadn't told us to make a break for it."

"All right." Karla glanced over at the pile of rubble that was now blocking the street. "Is there any way to get through the rubble on your end?"

"Uhhh, none that we can see, Captain." Riker paused for a second. "We can try using our engineers to blow the thing, but that could take days. We're probably going to have to go around it."

Karla nodded and examined her tactical map. Unfortunately for her, she was stuck in a long boulevard that had no connections to any other street other than a large plaza the very end. Karla made a mental note to kill whoever designed the layout for this city.

"Okay, it doesn't look like we'll be meeting any time soon. You're best chance is to regroup and link up with third column and keep moving. We'll meet you at the rally point." Karla looked over at the direction of the bridge connecting Old Mombasa with the New. Even though it was only about three miles away, it may as well have been three light years with these damn streets.

"Roger that, Captain. Good luck." Riker replied.

"Orders, Captain?" Captain Merck, who commanded the lead Scorpion, queried.

"We keep moving to the rally point." Karla said. "Full speed ahead."

Almost instantly, the Scorpion gunned forward. Karla had seen Merck fight before, and knew for a fact that he was an extremely aggressive tank commander. He was always itching for a fight, and has proven to be one of the best Scorpion commanders around, with over thirty kills to his name.

Captain Wrall, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He was commanding the second tank, and Karla knew for a fact that unlike Merck, Wrall was extremely conservative in his tactics. Rather than charge blindly into battle, Wrall often preferred to hang back and wait for his opponents to make a mistake, then take them out at range. His kill count rivaled Merck's with twenty six kills.

Suddenly, Karla caught movement in the shops on the sides of the boulevards. It was zero chance that it was civilians. The mass evacuation and the threat of Covenant invasion made sure of that, and if any people were remaining, chances were they were criminals or looters, and wouldn't be missed. Karla decided err on the side of caution.

"Williams, Myard, spray the shops. Kreefe, hold off until you can get a clear shot."

Two 30mm cannons roared as they tore the shop fronts apart, shattering glass and crumbling walls. Suddenly, like a beehive being struck by a stick, dozens of Grunts and a couple of Elites burst out of the stores, braving the whithering fire and clambering onto the Scorpion tanks up front.

Wrall was very aware of the Covenant leaping onto _Shiela_ like barnacles, and could see the same happening to Merck's tank, _No Mercy_.

"Somebody scratch my back!" Merck yelled through the radio. It was long standing saying in armor units. Whenever they were being assaulted by infantry, it was common practice for the thanks to protect each other by spraying each other with machine gun fire. The tank's armor would easily protect the crew, but the same could not be said for the infantry.

Thinking quickly, Kazi brought her turret in line and sprayed Merck's Scorpion with machine gun rounds. The Grunts fell off like flies as they were torn apart by the bullets. At the same time, Merck's turret swiveled around, striking the head of the Elite, who was attempting to pry the hatch open, and snapping its neck. _No Mercy_ returned the favor by spraying _Shiela_ with a protective blanket of machine gun fire. Wrall could hear the bullets pinging off the hull like rain, and occasional meaty thump of a dead body rolling off the hull. Kazi noticed Shion trembling as the pinging got louder and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. This stuff happens all the time. Not much can get through a Scorpion's skin."

"What's the situation out here, Captain Wellings?" Wrall asked. Even with the cameras mounted on _Shiela_'s hull, visibility was always poor in a tank.

"You guys are clear. The Grunts are falling back and we're mopping up the last of them." Wrall could hear the distinct whine of a gauss cannon firing in the background, and tried not to picture what a hypersonic metal rod would do to a Grunt.

"Merck, Wrall, hold your positions." Karla continued. "We're almost at the plaza, and I have a feeling the Covvies might be hiding something in there."

"Roger that." Wrall could hear the disappointment in Merck's voice. His blood was up from the skirmish, and he didn't want to waste his adrenaline just sitting around.

"Okay people." Karla waved at the other two Warthogs. "We're going in on foot for this one."

Though primarily trained to be a mechanized attack unit, Karla had made sure that her company was properly trained in infantry tactics, since you couldn't spend all of your combat time resting in the seat of a Warthog. With impressive speed and stealth, Karla, Williams, Tarin, and her remaining six Marines managed to sneak up to the plaza unnoticed. What they saw, though, was alarming. There was a Wraith tank sitting at the other end of the plaza, keeping an eye on the entrance. Fortunately due to derelict vehicles scattered around the streets and plaza, it couldn't see the Scorpions just several hundred yards down the road. Karla could also see a platoon of assorted Covenant troops protecting the Wraith as well.

"Merck." She radioed the lead tank. "There is Wraith at the other end of the plaza. Can you shoot it from here?"

"I can't see a goddamned thing, Captain." Merck said gruffly. "And what I can't see, I can't very well shoot. I can charge forward and-"

"No." Karla quashed the idea. So far, the Covenant had no idea they were here. She wasn't about to give away the element of surprise. "There's a small side alley about thirty meters to your left. If you go through there, you can flank-"

Suddenly, the _No Mercy_'s engines roared and the Scorpion shot forward. Karla cursed as she and her other Marines ran for cover. The damn glory hound.

Seeing the oncoming Scorpion tank, the Wraith quickly fired, but the shot was desperate and landed twenty meters short. _No Mercy_ pressed on and responded with its own shot. The shell hit and pierced the Wraith's front armor. The Wraith then dropped to the ground like a rock and exploded, scattering the platoon of Covenant troops, who were quickly finished off by _No Mercy_'s guns.

"See Captain?" Merck boasted proudly as _No Mercy_ sat idly in the plaza. "I'm not sure how things are done in your unit, but this is how its done in the Armored Cavalry!" There was a faint chorus off "Hoo-rah!" in the background.

Suddenly, Wrall shouted, "Merck, you idiot, get _No Mercy_ back into cover before-"

At that moment, _No Mercy_ was hit simultaneously by two Wraith plasma bolts. Karla was knocked back by the force and heat of the resulting blast. Her radio link to Merck buzzed with the interference of a cut signal, and there was no doubt that there were no survivors in the melted hulk.

"Shit, can nothing go right for once?" Karla muttered under her breath.

Meanwhile, _Shiela_'s crew was speechless for a moment. In the space of a few seconds, one of the unit's most celebrated tank aces was gone in a flash of plasma.

"Well, if you ask me, the bastard got what was coming to him." Scottie said.

"I hope you're not thinking about putting this tank in reverse." Kazi responded. "You seem to do that a lot when stuff like this happens."

"In your dreams, you wench."

Wrall noticed Shion's shocked expression and said, "Don't worry, they do this all the time. As far as I know, neither of them really mean it."

"Wrall!" Karla's voice crackled through the radio. "What's your status?"

"We're ready to go." Wrall said. "What happened up there?"

"Well, thanks to Merck, we've apparently found out that there are two more Wraiths hiding out on the left and right edges of the plaza, and both have clear lanes of fire onto the street. Once you drive in, you can nail one of them, but you'll never have enough time to fire on the second before he nails you."

"What about that alley you mentioned earlier?"

"I was getting to that." Karla sounded miffed, as if she didn't like being hurried. "Now here's the plan…"


	14. Ambush

Chapter 14: Ambush

**Old Mombasa**

"Are you in position yet?" Karla asked for the umpteenth time.

"Just stick with us here, Captain." Wrall's exasperated voice replied. "_Shiela_'s being a little finicky here."

"More like being a giant junk heap!" Karla heard somebody with a deep Scottish accent yell in the background.

"Tankers." Karla sighed and shook her head. "It's always got to be the decent ones that get the crappy equipment."

"Could be worse." Williams grinned. "We could've been stuck with an M808."

"Don't even get me started about those things." Karla and Wrall both sighed.

The M808 line of Scorpion tanks were supposed to be at the pinnacle of excellence for all Scorpions. On paper, it seemed to be an unbeatable machine, with its high velocity 90mm cannon, heavy 7.62mm machine gun, tough armor, and heaps of automated systems. However, in practice, it was a completely different story. Unlike other Scorpion models, the M808 was designed and optimized for Spartans in mind. As a result, there were some glaring issues that no sane tank commander would ever accept.

First, the crew compartment was completely exposed. This wasn't much of an issue with Spartans, since their armor was pretty much as tough as the Scorpion. However, with a human crew, driving a tank was pretty much a moot point if the rest of the tank was covered with protective titanium-A except for the part that mattered the most.

Second, the M808 lacked a pintle-mounted machine gun and a gunner to use it. This made the tank more vulnerable to infantry assault and rendered the tank completely ineffective in close-quarters combat.

Third, since the M808 was optimized to be operated by a single Spartan and a high-class AI, crew space was minimized and used instead to pack in AI memory storage, extra ammo, and a few automated systems. For ordinary humans, there was only enough space for a gunner and driver. Unfortunately, testing showed that this configuration resulted in lower combat efficiency than older models. Without a tank commander to guide them, the driver and gunner often performed conflicting or poorly executed maneuvers. In the chaos of combat, the gunner and driver were too engrossed in their own tasks in order to concentrate on anything else. Also, the lack of a human loader and the inclusion of an automated loader meant that it wasn't as easy to switch ammunition types. In the heat of battle, the gunner often had no time to reprogram the autoloader and swap out ammo types, so the crew was often stuck using a single type of shell.

To put it in simple terms, M808s were rolling death machines if piloted by Spartans, but were third-rate when it came to a standard human crew. Most tank units kept one or two as a courtesy in case they were ever graced with the presence of a Spartan on the field, but other than that, M808s were often put in storage or used when no other tank was available.

"We're in position." Wrall announced.

From her position, Karla could see the alley exit, which was just behind one of the Wraiths and in a perfect flanking position from the other. She could make out the tip of the Scorpion's barrel jutting out from the alley, drawing a bead on the Wraith across the plaza.

"You're clear the fire." Karla said.

"You can fire when ready, Kazi." Wrall ordered.

"Give me an AP round and an HE as a follow-up." Kazi said as she locked the sights on the Wraith.

Shion nodded and queued the autoloader to load an armor piercing depleted uranium round and a high explosive round in that order.

"Loaded!"

Kazi pulled the triggers and fired the AP round. The tank shuddered as the 90mm cannon fired its lethal projectile. The depleted uranium round hit the first Wraith through its side armor and continued on, passing straight through the other end of the tank and slamming into the wall behind it. The Wraith shuddered for a second and fell to the ground as its antigravity propulsion systems failed. Through her sights, Kazi could see the crew hatch burst open and saw the Wraith's crew scrambling to escape the tank. She heard the unmistakable _thunk_ of a shell being loaded, and Shion yelling, "Loaded!" and fired again.

Wrall marveled at Kazi's accuracy with the cannon. As he was watching, he saw the high explosive shell score a direct hit a Grunt as it leapt off the side of the Wraith. The resulting explosion engulfed the Grunt and the rest of the Wraith crew in a ball of fire.

"Scottie! Full power forward! Lets go!" Wrall yelled. "Kazi! Take out the second tank!"

_Shiela_'s engines squealed and whined as Scottie put everything they had into acceleration. At the same time, Kazi spun the barrel in line with where the Wraith was supposed to be and saw with relish that it was still unaware of what was going on, and it's unarmored rear was presented in front of her like a giant birthday cake.

"Standard round, Shion!"

"Loaded!"

Wrall was also impressed with how Shion was quick to react to Kazi's needs. It was rare to see a loader who load a round almost instantaneously. Shion had obviously done her homework.

The tank shuddered again as the cannon fired. The shell pierced the rear portion of the Wraith and exploded, blowing the rear half of the tank off and gutting out the insides, killing the crew.

"Score two for _Shiela_!" Kazi laughed. "I changed my mind about this tank. This cannon works like a dream!"

"It's still a piece of junk." Scottie muttered.

"The plaza is clear." Wrall announced. "It's safe to come in now."

"Roger that."

Karla saw the quick and efficient way that Wrall had taken care of the Wraith tanks and was impressed. She'd keep her eye on this tank crew for the time being.

"Lets move forward." She said as the small convoy of three Warthogs pressed on into the plaza.

**New Mombasa**

"Is this a good idea sarge? I mean, tailing a Scarab?" Leo said as they navigated their way across another pedestrian bridge.

"Of course it is." Paccone grunted. "Scarabs aren't terribly smart. They really don't notice anything smaller than themselves."

"Gee, I wonder why." Kumi said sarcastically.

"Hold it." Scohar warned. He was the point man. "I think there's something up ahead."

Suddenly, an energy beam shot past Scohar's head, missing by mere feet.

"Shit, get down!" Paccone yelled.

Without delay, the rest of the squad ducked down and tried to find cover.

"Wellings!" Paccone yelled. "Did you see where that came from?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

"Good, find that sniper and deal with it." Paccone motioned at the other end of the bridge. "Keep your eye there. We might have enemies coming down that way any minute."

"Come on, Leo!" Sam slid to a halt near a pile of crates and went prone, snuggling her rifle right under the safety rail. Leo did the same and hastily began setting up his sights.

"I saw it come from the big gray building."

"They're ALL big gray buildings, Sam. Be a little more specific." Leo sighed.

"Company!" Kumi yelled just as plasma bolts began to fly. Sure enough, Covenant were beginning to appear at the other end of the bridge, an entire squad or more. What made it worse was that more Covenant were beginning to appear on adjacent bridges.

"Take them down!" Paccone yelled, pointing at the Covenant at the other end of the bridge.

Instantly, with the efficiency of a well-drilled squad, Kumi and Scohar poured fire into the bridge exit, forcing the Covenant to dive for cover. Paccone meanwhile started firing harassing shots at the Covenant on an adjacent bridge. Another energy shot past, forcing Kumi and Scohar to duck for cover, which gave the Covenant more time to move in.

"Wellings! Find that damn sniper or we're never going to get off this bridge!"

"Do you see him yet?" Leo asked.

"No, that's why I've got you to spot for me!" Sam grumbled. She knew which building the shots were coming from, but there were at least two dozen spots where the sniper could be. "I need him to fire one more time!"

"I swear," Paccone scowled, "nobody can ever do these things right."

"Sir?" Kumi looked up. "What are you doing?"

Before anybody could react, Paccone stood up and exposed himself to enemy fire. He started running for the next set of crates as plasma fire began to trail behind him. Suddenly, an energy beam shot past. Unlike projectile rifles, beam rifles shot a single, unbroken energy beam that made it easy to track back to the shooter. Sam caught the beam in her sights and traced it straight to a Jackal hiding on the twentieth floor of an office building. Sam carefully nuzzled her sights over the Jackals head and fired. The Jackal's lifeless body toppled over the edge and flattened itself on the street.

"He's down!" Sam yelled.

"Let's move!" Paccone stood up again and made his way to the other end of the bridge, firing at the Covenant taking cover there.

Kumi and Scohar followed suit, pouring fire on the adjacent pedestrian bridges to keep the Covenant down. Sam fired her remaining shots at several Elites and began to move as well, with Leo following close behind.

To clear the path, Paccone threw a hand grenade into the bridge exit which scattered the Covenant attackers, killing or maiming most of them. Unfortunately, the Elites on the adjacent bridges were beginning to leap onto their own bridge. One landed right in front of Sam, plasma sword in hand.

"Shit!" Sam cursed and slid to a halt. The Elite yelled something in its garbled language and swing it's sword downward in a vertical slash. Sam raised her rifle in a feeble attempt block the energy blade.

"Sam!" Leo screamed and grabbed Sam, pulling her back. The sword sheared through her rifle, cutting it in two, but didn't quite reach far enough to hit Sam herself. The blade barely touched her and left a vertical singe mark down the front of her body armor.

At that moment, Paccone came from behind and struck the Elite with the butt of his weapon. The blow didn't even pierce the alien's shields, but knocked it off balance. With another savage blow, he managed to shove the Elite over the bridge rail and off the edge, sending the Elite plummeting twenty stories to its death.

"Quit slacking and start moving, privates!" Paccone yelled as he fired at a group of Elites coming in behind them.

"It broke my rifle…" Sam said glumly, too distracted to listen.

However, before any of them could react, a storm of automatic fire swept across the pedestrian bridges, tearing the Covenant on them to pieces.

"What the-" Leo gasped as the last of the Covenant troops were cut down.

He looked up and saw a squad of Marines making their way down a pedestrian bridge several stories above them.

"Are you guys all right?" The leader called down to them.

"We're okay down here!" Paccone replied. "Who in the hell are you guys?"

"27th Marine Recon!" The other Marine yelled. "What about you?"

"2nd Marine Recon!" Paccone replied. "We're tracking a Scarab just two miles south of here!"

"We're also tracking it!" The leader sounded somewhat surprised. "We're setting up a rally point!"

Paccone's HUD pinged as a nav marker appeared. "See you there!"

Leo saw the other group of Marines run down the bridge and out of sight. He looked back at Sam, who was still looking at the remains of her sniper rifle glumly.

"My sister got me that rifle…"

"I'm sure we can get you a new one after this." Leo said sympathetically.

"You don't understand…" Sam looked to be on the verge of tears, "That rifle was made and fitted specifically for _me_. It was like a part of me…"

"Quit your whining and start moving." Paccone said sternly.

"But sir-" Leo started to say.

"NOW!" Paccone glared at Leo, who quickly took the hint and ran off after Kumi and Scohar.

Paccone turned to Sam and his expression softened slightly. "I know how much that rifle meant to you, and with your _incredibly_ careless and incompetent attitude, I decided to bring _this_ along."

He then picked up the mysterious case he had been lugging the entire time and handed to Sam. She cracked the case open and peered inside. Her jaw dropped at what she saw.

"Sarge, is this-"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is."

"How did you get it? Only specialized NavSpeWar personnel get access to this stuff!"

"I don't think you really want to know how I got this thing." Paccone glanced at Sam's angered reaction and quickly said, "Let's just say your mother, and by extension Karla, are very active firearm connoisseurs. If you really want to know more, ask Karla about sometime… if either of you are still alive that is."

Karla glanced at Paccone somewhat suspiciously. "Exactly why are you going through all this trouble for me? Does this have something to do with that thing between you and Karla?"

"Well, let's just say that you remind me a lot about her before she realized the truth about everything."

Sam suddenly recalled the story of Paccone and Karla's relationship that Leo had told her about. "You mean that time when-"

"Not exactly…" Paccone's voice trailed off, as if he were unwilling to continue on the path the conversation was going. He suddenly changed the subject, "What the hell are we doing still standing here? Let's get moving, Private!"

With her head still swimming with questions, Sam could do nothing but follow her sergeant.

\**Old Mombasa**

"That was way too easy." Karla said cautiously as _Shiela _rumbled to a stop next to the Warthogs. "It's never supposed to be easy."

"It's probably just a side effect of your shoddy leadership skills." Williams said sarcastically. "You get us into so many sticky situations, that you get suspicious when you actually get something done right."

"Something tells me you've been spending way too much time with Sergeant Paccone." Karla glared at Williams, causing him to shrink back.

"Captain." Tarin said calmly, staring into the sky. "I think we've got company."

"What?' Karla looked at the sky, and managed to see several dark shapes closing in at lighting speed.

"Banshees!" Karla yelled into her radio. Already she could hear the characteristic shriek of their engines. "Take cover!"

The Warthogs immediately broke off and took shelter in a nearby bombed out store. Unfortunately, _Shiela_ was too large to hide.

"Get us out of here!" Wrall yelled.

"I'm trying to!" Scottie wailed as he tried to get the stubborn vehicle to move. "She's not responding to anything!"

"What are you talking about!" Wrall yelled again. "Just pull up on the lever and push down on the pedal! It's not that hard!"

"I know how to drive a tank, you twat!" Scottie retorted.

Meanwhile, Kazi had turned the turret into the direction of the oncoming Banshees. The 7.62mm machine gun spat tracers at the hostile aircraft as Shion began loading airburst shells.

"Get this tank moving, NOW!" Wrall yelled again. He knew the damage Banshees could cause, and that one direct hit from a fuel rod cannon would result in a very bad day.

Kazi fired her first airburst shell. The shell zoomed through the air and exploded as is passed by a Banshee. The shockwave knocked one out of the air, and shrapnel crippled a second, forcing it to retreat. However, there were three more incoming Banshees, and Wrall knew that there was no possibly way a single gun was going to get them all.

"Come on, what the hell are you doing?" Karla muttered as she saw the Scorpion stranded in the middle of the plaza. She had her Warthogs move back into the open and were throwing support fire into the air to drive off the Banshees. It was at that moment Karla noticed movement on her Warthog's radar. From the looks of it, not only were there Banshees, but more Wraiths were incoming. At least two or three more. If _Shiela_ didn't get moving soon, she and her crew would all be doomed.


	15. We Need More Power!

Chapter 15: We Need More Power!

**Old Mombasa**

"Scottie, get _Shiela _moving!" Wrall yelled.

"I'm trying, Captain!" Scottie wailed along with _Shiela_'s engines. "She just isn't responding!"

Wrall turned to his gunner. "Kazi…"

"On it, Captain!" Kazi powered up the turret and aimed it at the incoming Banshees. "Shion! Airburst rounds, and keep them coming!"

The autoloader hummed and Wrall could hear the familiar _thump_ of a fresh shell being loaded into the cannon.

"Loaded!" Shion yelled enthusiastically.

Kazi launched the airburst shell directly at the approaching Banshees. Unlike conventional tank shells, airburst shells were designed specifically for anti-aircraft purposes. They would explode after traveling a preset distance or if the sensor imbedded in the shell detects a nearby solid object, sending high-velocity shrapnel in all directions. Unfortunately, the Banshees were not going to fall for the same trick twice. They broke off and spread out to reduce the chances of all of them being taken out by a single shot. The shell passed through the air and exploded, but did no significant damage.

"I think I got it now!" Scottie yelled.

"Then move!" Wrall yelled back.

Scottie pushed down on the accelerator, but the engines mewed weakly and the tank moved at a slow crawl.

"Scottie, we need more power!" Wrall yelled. "We're getting nowhere here!"

"I'm giving the engines all she's got, sir!"

There was a roaring sound as Kazi fired another round at the Banshees. One of them was forced to break off as it was firing its fuel rod, spoiling its aim. The fuel rod landed just five meters away from _Shiela_, turning the pavement into a molten crater.

"Damn it, that's it." Karla muttered as she saw the bomb fall. "Move in! We have to cover them!"

So far, she was armed with three Warthogs. Two were equipped with 30mm autocannons and one had a 25mm gauss cannon. It wasn't much but it was all she had. The Banshees, surprised by the sudden appearance of the new threat, broke off their attack run and attempted to retreat. However, they were cut down by a storm of 30mm rounds and airburst shrapnel. Meanwhile, the gauss-armed Warthog was firing shots at the incoming Wraiths, the armor-piercing metal rods inflicting gruesome damage.

"Wrall, what the hell are you doing in there?" Karla screamed into her radio. "Get that goddamn tank moving or I'll leave you out for the Covenant!"

As if spurred on by Karla's words, _Sheila_ suddenly roared to life as it reached full power. It suddenly shot backwards as the tank reversed into a sheltered alley. Karla was about to give the fallback order when plasma bolts started raining down. Karla looked on in horror as her two fellow Warthogs were engulfed and destroyed. The gauss-armed Warthog took a direct hit and was reduced to slag. There were no chances of surviving a like that. However, the remaining Warthog managed to avoid the deadly energy bolt, but flipped over after the resulting blast. Karla quickly drove over to inspect the crash. The driver was clearly dead, with half of his body just seared flesh. The gunner, who had neglected to put on her safety harness, was thrown clear of the vehicle but Karla could see that her head was twisted in a position that wasn't survivable. However, the passenger was still alive, still strapped into the passenger seat and somewhat dazed.

"We have to get him out. Come on!" Karla leapt out of her Warthog with Williams following close behind. Tarin stayed on and manned the turret just in case.

"We don't have much time!" Williams wailed. "Those Wraiths will be on top of us in seconds!"

"Then shut up and help me!" Karla was already trying to yank the unconscious Marine from his seat. Williams bent down and helped loose the safety restraints.

"We've got company!" Tarin said.

Karla turned and saw the first Wraith slowly making its way into the plaza. It caught sight of the Marines and began to orient itself to fire on them but suddenly exploded in blue flames.

"You owe me a drink." Wrall said smugly as _Shiela_ reloaded its cannon.

"Just keep those Wraiths pinned down!" Karla tossed the unconscious Marine, a Private Arms, into the back of her Warthog and leapt into the passenger seat and yelled, "Get us out of here, Williams!"

Williams quickly climbed into the drivers seat and gunned the engine as two more Wraiths began to push their way into the plaza, firing their plasma mortars indiscriminately.

"You're gonna get us killed, Williams! You're gonna get us killed!" Karla said as Williams tried to weave his way around the obstacles in his path and the plasma bolts chasing him.

"I'm sorry if I'm not trying hard enough!" Williams plowed the Warthog straight into a storefront, sending glass and concrete flying everywhere.

The Wraiths suddenly lost interest in the crashed Warthog and concentrated on _Shiela_.

"Ummm, Scottie?" Wrall eyed the incoming Wraiths nervously.

Scottie slammed his foot down on the petal and _Shiela_ shot backward in full reverse. There were several thuds as the tank smashed through several walls. A plasma bolt landed in front of _Shiela_, temporarily blinding the crew. Kazi fired a shell in response, but the shot was wide and the Wraith continued its pursuit.

"Great shooting there, Kazi. I now remember why I put my life in your hands." Scottie snorted.

"Fuck you, Scottie." Kazi said without pulling her eyes away from her sights.

"I wish." Scottie retorted.

"You can bicker after we kill that damn Wraith!" Wrall said loudly. "Scottie, get us somewhere with more space! Kazi! Hit the damn thing!"

Meanwhile, back in the plaza, Karla and her small team were still stranded in the store they crashed in. While one Wraith pursued _Shiela_, the second one was milling about in the plaza, which meant that they weren't going anywhere.

"Well, any ideas on how to get out of this?" Williams sighed.

Tarin shrugged. "We can wait for the tank to come back."

"You can't be serious, placing our lives in the hands of that hunk of junk?"

Arms groaned as he slowly began to regain consciousness. He glanced around blankly and asked, "What the hell just happened?"

"Your Warthog was hit and we pulled you out of it." Karla said sternly.

"Then where's-" Arms stopped as realization suddenly hit him.

"We managed to pull you out alive." Williams said sadly. "But the rest of your crew wasn't so lucky."

Lost for words, Arms slumped down against the wall, mouth open in disbelief.

"Should we do something?" Williams asked.

"No." Karla said, trying to keep the edge in her voice. "He'll get over it eventually. Right now, we have to concentrate on getting rid of that Wraith."

"How? Last I checked, we don't have any anti-tank weaponry, and a 30mm cannon isn't much good against a tank."

Karla grinned. "Oh, poor Williams, you fail to realize the wonders of On-Site Procurement."

"I don't understand what you're trying to say."

Karla picked up a satchel filled with Covenant plasma grenades. "I got these while we were picking Arms up. Placed correctly, I'm sure there's enough explosive in here to take down a Wraith."

"How about getting close enough to that bad boy to plant the explosives?"

"See, that's one of the perks of being a commanding officer. You get to order other people to do the dangerous work for you."

Williams glanced at Tarin and said glumly, "I have a bad feeling about this."

**New Mombasa**

"Sam?" Leo stared at the new rifle in disbelief. "What. The _fuck_. Is that thing!"

"This," Sam said with a positively devious grin, "Is the SRC700 'Earthshaker' Sniper Rifle."

There was an awkward pause until Leo continued. "And…?"

"You really have to keep up on your firearms knowledge." Sam sighed. "Unlike the standard-issue sniper rifle we all know and love, this baby here fires not just 14.7mm sabot rounds, but _solid _14.7mm rounds. To put in simple terms, standard rifles shoot supersonic needles, and this shoots supersonic miniature cannon rounds."

"So, I assume it's pretty lethal then."

"Lethal?" Sam laughed. "This stuff is designed to punch through several inches of reinforced titanium A. It's supposed to take down _tanks_. Five round capacity, and a barrel packed with shock absorbers and springs to compensate for the monster recoil. Plus, it's limited production, so you almost never see any of these around."

Leo narrowed his eyes. "And Paccone got this… how?"

"I don't care, as long as I get to shoot this thing! If it can take down tanks, imagine what it can to a _Grunt_!" Sam caught the disapproving look in Leo's eyes and continued, "Though it _was _a little more than creepy when he mentioned my mom and Karla having it."

"Maybe you should ask him about it." Leo suggested.

"I'm pretty sure there are plenty of questions involved here that don't really need to be answered." Sam retorted. "Besides, I'm not complaining."

Leo sighed.

Meanwhile, Paccone had linked up with the other Marine unit that had assisted them earlier. They were hiding out in yet another anonymous, abandoned office complex. The fellow Marines nodded to each other in recognition before Paccone made his way to the man he assumed was in command.

"Sergeant Paccone, 102nd, C Company." Paccone introduced himself.

"Sergeant Alvarado, 405th, A Company." The other Marine replied. "You don't know how goddamn glad we are to see you. We've been down here fighting off the Covvies but the bastards won't give up."

Paccone took a quick look at Alvarado's squad. "I see that the way you're equipped, you're a recon squad. Hunting anything in particular?"

"As a matter of fact," Alvarado slapped a map down on a nearby desk and continued, "We've been tracking these Scarabs ever since they've hit the dirt. They've been designated Moe, Curly, and Larry."

"Cute names." Kumi grinned.

"Hey, I'm not the guy who makes this stuff up." Alvarado retorted. "Anyways, the Scarabs have split off, and we lost track of Moe in Old Mombasa. We've been tasked to follow Curly, while another squad is tailing Larry. I'm not quite sure what theirs status is though. With all the interference and jamming, everything's all garbled up, though I've been hearing rumors that the Master Chief is with them."

"Well, where else will he other than in the middle of the biggest shit-storm ever?" Paccone looked at the map. "Any plans?"

Alvarado grinned. "If Curly keeps going the way he is, he'll end up in the middle of this large boulevard here." He pointed at a large red strip on the map. "With it's size, there's no way a Scarab can maneuver."

"I think I see where you're going with this, and I like it." Paccone smiled.

"First, we post a couple of snipers on either end of the street to pin down any infantry support Curly might have. Then, we wait until it passes under these pedestrian bridges and then rappel down right on top of it."

"What? Is that it? No harpoons or tow cables?" Leo said jokingly.

""I believe you're thinking about the wrong kind of robot." Alvarado responded coolly. "Now let's get moving. We still have to get into position and we don't have much time if we want to cut off that Scarab."

**Old Mombasa**

"Ready for this?" Williams asked.

"Why are you asking me? You're the one who's going to have to make the run." Tarin said.

"And you're the one who's supposed to throw the smoke grenade so the Wraith can't draw a bead on me!" Williams said angrily. "I really can't move that fast if my body gets fused with the pavement!"

"Relax, Williams. It's not like it's the first time we took on a Wraith." Karla said matter-of-factly. "Toss it, Tarin."

With one smooth motion, Tarin lobbed the smoke grenade around the corner. The canister hit the ground and rolled to a spot right under the Wraith before it exploded and released a cloud of thick red smoke.

"NOW!" Karla yelled.

Williams sprinted down the plaza right across the front of the Wraith as Karla made a beeline for its rear. Blinded, the Covenant tank began firing random shots until it caught sight of Williams running past it. The tank immediately began to turn in an attempt to track the fleeing Marine. However, it didn't see Karla sneaking up to its vulnerable rear.

"Any second now, Captain!" Williams gasped as a plasma mortar landed several dozen meters behind him. "Preferably before I die!"

Karla was already behind the unsuspecting Wraith as she pulled out the satchel of plasma grenades. She grabbed a handful of the alien explosives, activated them, and the slapped them onto the rear of the Wraith. The high-tech sticky bombs adhered to the surface and began to glow brightly. Karla slapped the rest of the plasma grenades onto the hull and dove for cover.

The resulting explosion literally vaporized the entire rear portion the Wraith's hull and exposed the machinery and crew within. Taking advantage of this sudden vulnerability, Tarin and Williams rushed in and filled the smoldering crew compartment with automatic fire, giving the crew inside little mercy. Meanwhile, Karla merely lay on the ground, dazed and shellshocked from being so close to the explosion.

"Now you know why many Marines swear by the virtues of on-site procurement." Karla said proudly as Tarin and Williams helped her up.

Meanwhile, the situation in _Shiela_ was not going quite as well. The cannon shell misfired, which meant that _Shiela_'s main gun was effectively useless. Now it was just a matter of trying to get out of the Wraith's line of fire.

"Come on Scottie, keep us moving!" Wrall ordered.

"Move us WHERE?" Scottie yelled in frustration. "It's a goddamn alley! There's nowhere to move TO!"

"Keep your eyes on the goddamned road!" Wrall shouted.

"What-"

There was a sudden jerk as _Shiela_ punched through a brick wall and came to a sudden stop, engines dying from the strain. Wrall squinted as the dust cleared in order to get a bearing on his surroundings. He gasped in surprise, but was beaten to the punchline by Scottie.

"Uhhh, this place looks awfully familiar, sir."

In the chaos of the chase, _Shiela_ had made a complete circle and ended right back at the plaza from where she started from.

"Well, that was totally unexpected." Shion shrugged.

"Uh guys, did forget about the HOSTILE TANK THAT'S CHASING US?" Kazi yelled.

As if on cue, the Wraith pushed it's way into the plaza and aimed it's mortar straight at _Shiela_.

"Shit! Kazi, take it down!"

"Turret power's down! I can't aim!" Kazi said, panic creeping into her voice.

It didn't take a genius to see that Wrall was in trouble. Without thinking, Karla sprinted for the Wraith and leapt onto its side. In one fluid motion, she drew her plasma sword and punched it into the side of the Wraith. The alien tank suddenly ground to a halt. Whether by skill or just dumb luck, Karla's thrust had executed the driver of the tank. Without hesitation, Karla then gouged open a huge hole into the crew compartment of the Wraith. She grabbed a handful of grenades from her belt and rammed them directly into the tank.

She started to run, but the grenades went of prematurely. The force of the blast sent Karla crashing to the ground, hard.

Karla smiled weakly. "Looks like you owe me a drink, Wrall."

Then everything went black.


	16. The Bigger They Are

Chapter 16: The Bigger They Are…

Karla wasn't quite sure where she was when she finally managed to open her eyes. She found herself standing in… well… _nothing_. Everything was just a blank white, as if she were in some kind of purgatory.

"I hope to god I'm still unconscious." Karla said to herself.

"_You are."_ Said a strange, disembodied, and hauntingly familiar voice.

Karla caught sight of what looked like a small girl in the edges of her vision, but when she turned to confirm, there was nobody there.

"Who are you?" Karla yelled into the empty void.

"_You will know in time." _The voice quietly replied. _"But the question is, will you be ready then?"_

**Old Mombasa**

"Captain!"

Karla groaned opened her eyes, squinting in the brightness of the sun. She tried to focus her vision and saw Williams' face hovering over hers.

"You're okay!" Williams sighed in relief.

Karla slowly got up to see Tarin and Wrall standing over her as well. Arms was sort of wandering about, while Wrall's crew were busy trying to repair their ailing tank.

"What happened?" Karla slowly got up. "The last thing I remember was neutralizing those Wraiths…"

"More like blew one up in your face." Tarin sniffed. "You have some minor shrapnel wounds, but you were pretty damn lucky you weren't hit with anything bigger."

"What?" Karla suddenly realized that parts of her armor were torn and shredded and several areas on her body were patched with bandages. She also noticed that her face stung, and was surprised to find a shallow gash that stretched from her right temple down to her cheek.

"If that were just a few inches off, you would've been short a few brain fuctions." Tarin added.

"I'm sure." Karla glanced over at _Shiela _and asked, "How's the tank?"

"Pretty much in the same condition we got it… broken."

Karla frowned. If they were going to link up with the rest of their forces, it would certainly help to have a fully functioning tank.

"Are you fixing it?"

"More or less." Wrall said simply.

Meanwhile, Scottie, Kazi, and Shion were busy digging out _Shiela_'s decrepit parts and trying to repair or replace them with whatever they had on hand. They were even going so far as to loot the remains of the wrecked Warthogs, and even the demolished Wraiths.

"You can't be serious." Scottie gaped when he saw Kazi yanking wires out of a burnt out Wraith hulk.

"Well, we need some kind of wiring to replace the mess that's supposed to be the targeting system." Kazi continued to yank the wires out until they snapped or were pulled out of the components they were attached to.

"Shion, what's our ammo count?"

Shion poked her head out of the hatch and said, "All we've got left are six standard rounds and the three special ones Captain Wrall keeps around."

"Well shit, that's not good." Kazi frowned.

"I still think this is a bad idea." Scottie grumbled.

"Did you even see what was under the hood?" Kazi pointed to the open access panels. "Pretty much everything in there is a mish mash of old and new tech from the last half century or so. A few alien components probably aren't going to change anything."

"Oh yeah, and remember that time when you thought welding a flamethrower onto the tank barrel was a good idea?"

"Hey, at least I helped with the fires." Kazi grumbled.

"You made the fires worse!" Scottie cried.

"Correction, I made the fires _better_."

"You're going to kill us all someday Kazi, I swear." Scottie sighed.

**New Mombasa**

"Ummmm, that Scarab is a _whole_ lot bigger than what the training vids made them out to be…" Leo said nervously.

"Pity you're not coming with us to kill it!" Paccone said cheerfully through the radio. "It'll be a blast."

"I'll just stay up here with Sam, thanks." Leo replied.

"Oh man, I can't wait to fire this thing!" Sam couldn't keep the anticipation out of her voice. "Oh what fun we'll have together!"

Leo narrowed his eyes. "Are you talking to me or the gun?"

Sam and Leo were set up on some manager's desk overlooking the street the Scarab was trundling down. Across the street in a similar position was a sniper team from the 405th setting up a crossfire. Meanwhile, the rest of the Marines were hiding out on a bridge, waiting to fast rope down onto the Scarab as it passed by.

"Ready when you are, Sarge." Sam said, nudging her crosshair over a Grunt trudging along the oncoming Scarab.

"Go for it."

Sam slowly pulled the trigger, savoring the moment as the round left the barrel with the force and sound of a small cannon, yet thanks to the weapon's suppressor systems, she felt almost no recoil at all. Truly a marvel of engineering. The ensuing _CRACK_ of the rifle was richer and deeper than what the S2AM normally sounded like, resembling a cannon more than a gun.

"Holy fuck." Leo gasped as he gazed through his sights.

"What?" Sam looked through her sight to try and get a bead on her target, but she couldn't find anything. "What the hell happened?"

"The Grunt got turned into paint. That's what happened."

At that moment, Hanchen, the other sniper, started firing at the guards on the Scarab. By the time the Covenant troops realized what was happening, three Grunts and an Elite were already down. One Elite dove for cover but was caught square in the midsection by Sam's high powered rifle. Half of the Elite managed to reach the safety for the Scarab's interior, while the other half flopped onto the floor with a messy _splat_.

In response, the head of the Scarab turned to one direction and literally blasted a random building with a huge wave of plasma energy. The plasma beam gouged out a huge chunk of the office building Sam and Leo were in. Glass and concrete melted like ice under the extreme temperature and began flowing down the side of the building like water. Lying prone on the ground, Sam and Leo could feel the heat rising up through the floor like a freight train moving straight up.

"I think it's time we moved." Leo said nervously as the floor began to sag.

"One more shot." Sam said petulantly.

"Hurry up then!" Leo could literally feel the building crumble as its structural integrity was compromised. "I didn't survive a childhood friendship with you and a zombie attack just to have a goddamn building fall on me!"

Sam snapped off a final shot, but it was sloppy and rushed. Instead of the clean kill she was hoping for, Sam merely inflicted a mortal wound on an Elite. The heavy shell punched through its shields and armor as if they were cardboard and struck it in the gut. The last thing Sam saw as the Elite squirming on the deck trying to collect the innards and gore that had been splattered all over the Scarab.

"Lets go!" Leo yelled as a ceiling light tumbled from the roof and bounced off his helmet.

"There's a bridge three levels down. Let's go!" Sam packed up her rifle and made a beeline for the stairwell.

As she ran, Sam could see Hanchen's position across the street. He was still in his position firing down at the guards on the Scarab. Her heart stopped when she saw the Scarab raise its head in preparation to fire.

"Hanchen!" Sam yelled in her radio. "The Scarab knows where you are! Get the hell out of there before it-"

There was another roar and bright flash of light as the massive plasma beam struck Hanchen's position. Sam winced as she saw not just the room, but the entire floor Hanchen was on disintegrate into ash.

"Shit, now we _really_ have to move!" Leo groaned.

Kicking the door open, Sam and Leo both barreled down the stairwell when they felt another huge rumble in the structure. Looking up, both Marines saw a plasma beam shear straight through the stairwell shaft several levels above them, sending molten concrete and steel raining down on them.

"That's it, _I _get to choose the next hiding spot." Leo grumbled. "I'm tired of repeatedly getting shot at."

Meanwhile, outside, the confused Scarab hesitated in the middle of the street, firing random plasma beams into the surrounding buildings to try and flush out any additional snipers. Unfortunately for the Scarab, this was the moment Paccone and Alvarado were waiting for. With all of the topside guards dead or in cover, nobody noticed two squads of Marines fast roping down onto the Scarab. It didn't take long for them to breach the hatch leading into the innards of the massive war machine.

"Okay, the most vulnerable spot in the Scarab is the control center." Paccone said as he blasted through a knot of Grunts. "A few blocks of C7 and the Covvies won't be using this thing in the foreseeable future."

"Easier said than done." Scohar ducked as needler rounds flew over his head. "There seem to be a lot of guards in there."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious!" Kumi leaned out of the corner and fired several quick shots from her shotgun.

"Grenade!" Alvarado yelled as he pulled the pin from the frag grenade he was holding. He tossed the explosive into the control room and ducked as the blast rocked the entire interior.

Outside, Sam and Leo were trying to make their way across the bridge. Unfortunately, the Scarab caught sight of them and started firing. A blizzard of plasma bolts from the Scarab's top-mounted turret swept across the bridge. Leo slid to a stop and grabbed the back of Sam's collar, pulling her down as the plasma bolts struck the side of the bridge.

"Thanks." Sam gasped, trying to regain her breath.

At that moment, the Scarab fired its main weapon. The plasma beam cut straight through the bridge, slicing it half. One end of the bridge smashed into the ground, turning it into a giant slide. Unable to find any purchase, Sam and Leo slip helplessly down the sloped bridge.

With feline grace, Sam hit the ground, rolled, and came back up to her feet. Leo, however, hit the ground, stumbled, and ran into Sam, knocking her over. Both Marines suddenly found themselves lying in a very awkward heap on the ground.

"You are so hopeless, Leo." Sam groaned.

Suddenly, there was a dull _boom_ that came from within the Scarab. Sam and Leo looked up to see the Scarab stop moving and sag forward. The entire vehicle crackled with electricity as its systems short-circuited. Then, inexplicably, the entire thing came crashing down, lifeless as a rag doll.

"And that, kids," Paccone said cheerfully through the radio, "is how you kill a Scarab."

**Old Mombasa**

Karla sighed as she sat back in the seat of her Warthog. It had taken over an hour of wrong turns, Covvie ambushes, and technical difficulties for her to finally link up with the rest of the convoy. The convoy itself was still fairly intact. There weren't any losses besides the ones Karla suffered during the Covenant ambush at the plaza. So far, just keep the convoy moving, Karla had tasked her three remaining Scorpion tanks into spearheading the convoy.

As they neared the bridge leading to New Mombasa, it seemed as if the Covenant resistance had dissipated. Karla looked around and it was clearly evident why. Wrecked vehicles and dead Covenant were littered everywhere. Each body had looked as if it had been killed in a brutally precise and efficient manner.

"What the hell happened here?" A disbelieving Marine asked through the radio. "Everything's _dead_."

"The Master Chief happened, that's what." Another Marine responded somewhat irritably, as if it were a fact everybody would know.

Karla sighed, "Quit the chatter and keep the channels clear for emergencies."

"Um, Cap?" Williams looked around. "Do you feel something?"

Curious, Karla asked, "Feel what?"

"I don't know." Williams shrugged. "Some kind of weird _thumping_. You know, like when something really big is coming."

Meanwhile, _Shiela_ and the two other companion tanks, the _Crusader _and _Vixen_, plowed their way forward, shoving wrecked vehicles and debris to the side of the road.

"The road ahead is blocked." The commander of the lead tank, Captain Furm of the _Crusader_ radioed. "We're going to have to detour."

Wrall watched on as he saw the _Crusader_ and _Vixen_ round the street corner in an attempt to bypass the blocked street. Wrall himself was about to round the corner when a sudden storm or frantic radio messages filled the radio. Suddenly, the _Crusader_ and _Vixen_ were rocketing past the intersection in full reverse firing as fast as they could.

The crew looked on in utter disbelief. There weren't many things that could spook a Scorpion tank like that. It was then they saw the _Vixen_ become consumed by a massive plasma beam. Seconds later, what remained of the _Vixen_ was unceremoniously crushed under the massive foot of the Scarab that destroyed it.

Kazi instinctively fired, but the standard tank shell was nowhere near effective enough in piercing the Scarab's thick armor. The _Crusader_ fired some shells of its own, but they were just as ineffectual.

"Sir, I think it's time to use one of those special shells you've been keeping." Kazi said.

"Go ahead."

"Shion, load up a trinium round."

The young loader's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you serious?"

"Just do it, and be sure to queue up a high explosive shell right after."

Trinium rounds were the most powerful and advanced tank shells ever developed by the UNSC. As its name implied, trinium rounds were three times as dense as depleted uranium, and were incredibly effective in piercing almost any kind of armor imaginable. However, trinium is incredibly hard to produce, so shells are somewhat rare and difficult to acquire, in contrast to the more common and fairly effective depleted uranium. The only reason Wrall was able to obtain one of these rounds, much less three, was because the other tank commanders in his unit didn't bother to carry any. None of them believed that they would ever face anything genuinely tougher than themselves.

This wasn't the first time Wrall had fought a Scarab. He knew that the trick to taking one down was to create a chink it its armor using a trinium round and then follow up with a more destructive shell and hit it in the same exact spot as the first round.

"Fire!" Wrall yelled.

_Shiela_'s cannon roared as it launched the special shell. The trinium rod flew straight and true, piercing and flying straight through the Scarab's left front leg and imbedding itself deep into its chest. The damaged leg buckled and the Scarab stumbled and stopped, as if surprised that something actually damaged it. Kazi took the chance to fire the fresh shell Shion had loaded. The explosive shell struck the exposed hole with pinpoint accuracy, blowing off armor plating and exposing even more of the Scarab's vulnerable interior. The _Crusader_ also took the chance and fired several rounds in support, blasting the Scarab's weak point and opening the hole even wider. The Scarab attempted to fire at the _Crusader_, but it was desperate and sloppy attempt. The plasma beam fired too high and struck an abandoned apartment block.

Finally, the Scarab collapsed in a flaming heap as it sustained too much damage. At that moment, the rest of the convoy had caught up with the tanks. There weren't many instances where Karla was surprised, or even showed any at all, but this was one of those times.

"Wrall, explain to me why there's a dead Scarab lying in the middle of the street.

**New/Old Mombasa Connecting Bridge**

Mako looked around in frustration as he and the remnants of his task force moved through the city's subterranean tunnels. What frustrated him was not his unit's slow pace, but the absence of any friendly units in the vicinity. Mako was told that there was a substantial Covenant forcing holding this end of the bridge, but there was no sign of them anywhere and attempted hails over the radio yielded no response.

"Commander, we have found something." One of the Grunts waddled up to him carrying a communication set. "We've made contact. It's the defending unit."

"Find their Commander and tell him that if he doesn't want to be shot for incompetence, he will explain why he's refused radio contact with us." Mako growled.

"That's the problem." The Grunt stuttered. "The defending unit… they're all dead."

Mako tightened his fist and remembered he was still carrying the human pistol. Were the humans really capable of such destruction on this scale?

"Show me."


	17. Shocking Revelations

Chapter 17: Shocking Revelations

**New/Old Mombasa Connecting Bridge**

Nothing horrified Mako more than to see so many brave and valiant Covenant soldiers slain and laid to rot unceremoniously on the ground. Scores of bodies belonging to the guard detail holding this side of the bridge were littered all over the entrance tunnels and the bridge itself. Not even the Wraiths and Banshees stationed here survived. To make matters worse, there was no sign of any humans except for a derelict human tank and countless bullet casings. What unnerved Mako the most, however, was the lack of any human bodies, which meant that the invading forces either found the time to move the bodies, or suffered no casualties. Mako desperately hoped for the former.

"Commander!" Another Grunt came waddling up to Mako. "Sir, we've gathered up all of the bodies, just as you ordered."

"Burn the bodies." Mako said confidently. "The soil on this accursed planet is too contaminated to touch their flesh."

"It will be done, Commander." The Grunt bowed.

"Commander."

Mako recognized the birdlike voice. It was one of the Jackals he had sent on scout duty on the other side of the bridge.

"What is it, scout?"

"Humans approach the bridge. Many of them."

"What are their numbers and composition?" Mako asked, but there was nothing but static.

"All soldiers." Mako addressed his entire unit. "Prepare for battle."

Meanwhile, on the other end of the bridge, Karla watched smoke rise from the demolished building that served as an outpost for a group of Jackals.

**Old Mombasa**

"Well, that's one way to take care of a sniper problem." She remarked coolly.

"Captain, I'm getting a lot of movement on the other end of the bridge." Williams glanced at the Warthog's motion sensors. "A hundred contacts, at least."

"Vehicles?"

"No." Williams shook his head. "It all appears to be infantry."

"Furm, Wrall, get your tanks up front and center."

Karla waited as _Shiela_ and _Crusader_ rumbled up to the front of the convoy, weapons ready and armed.

"How far can those guns shoot?" Karla asked.

"Farther than this bridge stretches, that's for sure." Wrall responded.

"Good, I want you and Furm to blow the hell out of the other end of the bridge. Anti-personnel shells, if you have any."

"Will do." Furm said.

**New Mombasa**

Mako ducked as another explosive shell shot over his position. Despite all of their efforts, the hastily erected barricade of wrecked vehicles and debris proved to be of little help against tank shells. What made the situation worse was that Mako had no way of retaliating against such an assault. He had lost his Wraiths in the ambush earlier in the day, and even though he had several heavy transports at his disposal, none of them were equipped with any weapons that could match the humans' range or firepower.

It was also too late to try and retreat. Leaving what meager cover they had meant certain death under the precise and destructive shelling they were suffering. His only choice was to try and weather the shelling, and fend off the inevitable infantry assault that was sure to follow.

Suddenly, the shelling stopped. Curious as to what was going on, several Covenant troops cautiously raised their heads over the barricade to see what was going on. Everything was deathly quiet, leaving the battered unit to wonder what was coming.

The distant roaring sound was faint at first, but steadily grew louder and more powerful. Some of the sharper eyed Covenant, Jackals mostly, managed to get a glimpse of what was coming. They saw a wall of green steel and black rubber racing towards them with unheard of speed. When confronted with this modern day cavalry charge, the Covenant reacted in a way countless armies did ever since the beginning of organized war. They ran for their lives.

Mako looked on helplessly as he saw the stout blue line of righteousness melt away in an instant. Scores of his troops abandoned their positions and made a run for it in a vain effort to reach the safety of the underground tunnels behind them. The few that stayed behind fired several ineffectual volleys at the oncoming wall of vehicles but were quickly cut down by weapons fire or run down by the massive vehicles themselves. The fleeing Covenant were slaughtered just as quickly.

Mako suddenly realized he was alone. All of his troops were either dead or running, and he was surrounded by scores of enemy troops.

"_Stop this pointless conflict. You have the power to do so. Don't let any more innocents die needlessly."_

There was that voice again. The voice that sounded just like his brother's.

"Silence!" Mako screamed into the air. "I will not listen to any more of your heretical talk!"

"_If you think those more enlightened than you are heretics, then you truly are lost."_

Karla, meanwhile, was surveying the battle. The entire engagement had gone far better than she had expected, with the Covenant in full rout with no casualties on her side. The soldiers stationed here were obviously not the best the Covenant had to offer. Scanning the distance again, she caught sight of a very familiar looking Elite.

"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me." She said to herself.

"Sir?" Williams cocked his head curiously.

Before either Williams or Tarin could react, Karla suddenly leapt out of the Warthog. She hit the ground rolling to absorb the shock and quickly got to her feet, facing the Elite she fought against on the _Cairo_.

"I want my pistol back, you thieving bastard."

The crimson Elite turned to face her. Seeing its face, Karla hesitated for a moment. The Elite looked strikingly familiar.

"Holy?"

The Elite seemed to hesitate as well. Karla had the feeling that it also had some familiarity with that name. However, that moment of hesitation was not to last. Both soldiers quickly drew their weapons and fired. Karla sidestepped, dodging several plasma bolts and pumped several rifle bursts into the Elite. Its shields sparked and fizzled as the bullets bounced off. The Elite used its advantage and tried to close distance, obviously intending to use its superior strength to overpower her. Karla unloaded the remaining rounds in her clip and tossed the weapon aside. There would be no time to reload it. She drew the pistol Paccone loaned her and started firing with it. At this point, the Elite's shields were weakened by the continuous punishment from the battle rifle, and several of the pistol rounds punched into its armor, slowing it slightly.

Mako bit back the pain as the human's bullets stung into his flesh, but the wounds were trivial. He kept up his pace, intent on slaying this troublesome human. However, his plasma pistol had overheated and he tossed the weapon aside, opting for his plasma sword instead. He activated the sword and swung out in a wide arc. However, the human seemed to anticipate his move and took several steps back, successfully getting outside the range of his swing, though the trailing edge of the blade managed to slice through her pistol.

Karla cursed as she dropped the now useless pistol. Now she had no sidearm at all, and Paccone would be pissed at her for losing one of his. Fortunately, she still had one trump card in the form of her own plasma sword, though she would have to rely on surprise in order to pull it off successfully. She waited for the Elite to close distance with her, and at the last possible moment, activated the sword the lunged.

Mako was caught off guard by the blade, but managed to sidestep, keeping the blade from spearing him but took a deep gouge in his side. He was completely surprised, how could a human obtain such a sacred weapon? Upon closer examination, Mako realized that it wasn't just any plasma sword…

"How do you possess my brother's sword?" Mako roared.

"What?" Karla hesitated. She had no idea how this Elite could see the difference, since all plasma swords seemed the same to her. Even more, how it exclaimed it had a brother.

Suddenly, a small blue orb landed between the two opponents and exploded. Several of the surviving Grunts noticed their commander was in trouble and tried to assist by lobbing several plasma grenades. Unfortunately, the failed to account for the blast shoving Mako backwards. With the bridge railing long gone due to battle damage, there was nothing there to stop Mako from toppling over the edge to certain death.

Karla had no idea why, but she suddenly found herself running after the falling Elite, as if by instinct. The next thing she realized, she was leaning over the edge, clutching the Elite's arm and keeping him from falling to his demise.

"Why?" Mako managed to utter, surprised.

Karla was just as surprised as Mako was, but managed to say, "You still have my pistol you thieving bastard."

Mako managed to pull himself back up onto the bridge, but was suddenly met with the butt end of Karla's rifle. He fell backwards, dazed and saw several humans standing over him pointing weapons down at him.

"Sir?" Williams looked to Karla for orders.

"Chain him up and we'll let the spooks deal with him." Karla bent down and picked up her pistol. It felt so nice to be in her hands again.

Suddenly, Karla had the very familiar feeling that something was wrong. She raised her head, and noticed a subtle hum in the air. She looked up to the Covenant cruiser hovering over New Mombasa and noticed that its engines were beginning to glow brighter.

"What the hell…"

Sensing her alarm Mako also looked up to see the cruiser. Just by looking at it, he realized what was about to happen.

"No, they cannot forsake us like this…" he whispered to himself.

**Scarab Carcass**

"Okay, so what's the plan now?" Leo asked once they were reunited with the rest of the squad.

"Well, we're supposed to link up with the rest of our unit and make a drive for that Covvie cruiser floating up there." Alvarado said.

"Well, then let's get going." Paccone said as he reloaded his rifle. "Can't kill Covvies if there aren't any around."

"Hold on." Alvarado put a finger onto his headphone, trying to listen in to a transmission. "I'm getting some weird messages. _In Amber Clad_ is trying to recover its Marines and is sending out evacuation orders."

"What?" Paccone raised his eyebrow in curiosity.

However, nobody had time to ponder over the message. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the Scarab hummed to life again, limbs and body jerking with energy.

"Shit! It must have some kind of backup!" Alvarado yelled. "Take cover!"

Within seconds, both squads made a dash for the nearest buildings. Both Leo and Sam tried to follow, but Sam looked up to see the Scarab's foot coming down right on top of them and realized they would never make it. Both Leo and Sam closed their eyes, waiting for their inevitable deaths from a several ton robotic foot.

But it never came.

Sam slowly opened her eyes and was amazed to see Scohar standing in front of her, holding up the Scarab's entire arm. With just one hand.

Scohar smiled sadly. "I'm sorry you had to see this. It wasn't supposed to happen."

The Scarab creaked again as it tried to push its leg down, but it seemed as if it was pushing against an impenetrable shield. Scohar didn't seem to be exerting any effort whatsoever.

"Who… what are you?" Sam asked in amazement.

"I'm sorry. I can't answer that, at least not yet."

"How can you do that?" Leo pointed at Scohar's superhuman feat.

"I'm afraid I haven't been entirely truthful to the both of you. I can't say much, but I can say that I was sent here to ensure that you survive this stage of your journey."

"What journey?" Sam was confused.

Scohar looked up blankly into the sky, paused and said, "I don't have much time. They know what I'm doing."

He then waved his other hand at the Scarab. The Covenant vehicle then suddenly stopped and went slack, its lights turning dark. Scohar had just disabled a Scarab with the wave of his hand. Leo and Sam just stood there, amazed.

"Oh, and Sam, before I leave, I want to tell you something." Scohar turned back to Sam. "It feels good to see you face to face again after all this time, even if it was just for a short while."

Sam was about to ask him what he was talking about but Scohar quickly turned his gaze toward the Covenant cruiser.

"It seems time is almost up." He said. "I just hope you're prepared for the trials and hardships ahead."

At that moment, Scohar disappeared in the flash of light. The Scarab leg fell and landed just feet away from Sam and Leo. Bewildered at what they saw, Sam and Leo just stood there, still as stone.

"Leo, did you just see-"

"Yes."

"So then I'm not crazy."

"I hope to god not."

"Hey!" Paccone crawled out from the building he was taking cover in. "You two okay?"

"Uh, yeah!" Leo quickly said to hide his nervousness. What the hell had just happened there?

"Holy shit, that was a close one." Kumi said as she glanced at the Scarab foot.

Apparently, since they were all in cover, nobody had seen the Scohar perform his little miracle. Probably for the best, since that would just make the moment far more awkward than it already was. Then, Paccone asked the big question.

"Where the hell is Scohar?"

Sam and Leo both stayed silent and glanced at the Scarab foot. Paccone looked at it too and his expression darkened, coming to the conclusion that Scohar was not as lucky as Sam and Leo. It was wrong of course, but it wasn't as if anybody was going to correct him.

"We better keep going." Paccone looked up in the sky and noticed something was different about the cruiser floating in the sky. "I have a bad feeling about this."

**_Freedom_, currently in geostationary orbit above New Mombasa**

"Sir." Joshua chimed. "I'm picking up anomalous energy signatures on the surface of the planet."

"What kind of energy?" Rogers took the moment to turn to Joshua.

"I'm not sure, but it's emanating from the Covenant cruiser hovering above New Mombasa."

"What's so unusual about it?"

"Well," Joshua's avatar flickered slightly, "the energy readings are consistent of a ship preparing to enter Slipspace, but that's absurd. Nobody, not even the Covenant, has ever attempted to open a wormhole on a planet."

Rogers' eyes shot open. "A Slipspace jump right above the city?"

"Yes, a completely absurd thing to-"

Rogers quickly cut Joshua off and said, "If the ship were to actually jump into Slipspace, what would happen?"

"Well, there have been no recorded instances of such a thing happening, so there's no data to reference…"

"Then give me a goddamned guess. You AIs are supposed to be smart." Rogers snapped.

"Well, taking into account the massive amounts of energy required to open and sustain a wormhole, as well as the huge amount of unstable energy a wormhole releases once it opens, my best guess is that the moment the cruiser makes the jump, everything in a several dozen mile radius around the ship will be incinerated."

"What's the time window?"

"Its hard to say. Maybe a few hours, maybe a few minutes until the ship jumps."

"Joshua, scramble every Pelican and transport craft we have and get our people out of that city."

"Done."

"And what's the _In Amber Clad_'s status?"

"My sensors indicate that the _In Amber Clad_ is accelerating and closing distance with the cruiser."

"Shit." Rogers cursed under his breath. This was definitely not good.

**New Mombasa**

Karla looked up in surprise as a string of Pelicans began descending. Before he had a chance to ask what was going on, she heard a deafening roaring sound. Karla looked up to see the _In Amber Clad_ soaring toward the Covenant cruiser.

"What the hell…" Williams cried in surprise.

At the same moment, the cruiser began to glow brightly. Karla looked on with horror as she realized what the cruiser was about to do.

"It can't be possible! It's trying to jump!"

"Yes. Our lives do not matter to them. Nothing does." Mako said sadly, as if he had just had an epiphany.

Meanwhile, just several miles away, Sam, Leo, Paccone, and the rest of the Marines were looking at the same thing. They were also scared and unsure of what was about to come.

Then, like an angry god, the Covenant cruiser seemed to explode in a bright flash of light, which slowly engulfed all of New Mombasa.

_**Freedom**_

"Joshua, what's happened?" Rogers looked down on the planet and saw a brief twinkle of light on the surface.

"I… I don't know." Joshua said.

"What?" Rogers was shaken. There weren't many things that could confound an AI.

"There was a sudden, massive energy release in New Mombasa. I can only assume that the Covenant cruiser actually made a Slipspace jump."

"The _In Amber Clad_?"

"Sensor records show that it was right on top of the cruiser's position. There is a chance that it managed to enter the same wormhole the cruiser opened."

"And the city?" Rogers bit his lip, already knowing he was not going to like the answer.

"Nothing, and I mean literally _nothing_. There's just a huge, perfectly round circle of flat dirt several miles in diameter, as if nothing were there in the first place."

Rogers slumped back into his seat. He knew elements of both his Marines and the 405th division were still in the city at the time of the jump. That meant almost 3,000 Marines, some that he had known personally, were gone in a flash.

"Joshua."

"Yes captain?"

"Find the nearest Covenant ship and unleash Hell on it."

Joshua hesitated. He had never heard Rogers speak like this. However, he carried out the order anyways. Whatever helped him deal with the tragedy.

**Unknown**

Karla really had no idea what had happened. The first thing she realized was the white flash that engulfed the entire city. When she opened her eyes again, she realized she was standing in a very familiar, purgatory-like white void.

"You have to fucking kidding me." She muttered to herself.

"Oh, I wish this was all a joke, but it's all painfully very real."

Karla whipped around to find the source of the hauntingly familiar voice. She then saw a small blonde-haired girl, probably ten or so, standing in front of her and wearing normal street clothes. She resembled somebody Karla knew, but couldn't quite place her finger on it. Then it suddenly hit her. The girl reminded Karla of herself and Sam.

"Who or what the hell are you?" She asked.

The girl smiled and continued to speak.

"I'm sure that you have a lot of questions about what's going on here, and I'm finally going to answer some of them."


	18. The Beginning

Chapter 18: The Beginning

**Unknown**

"Maybe we should start with where we are." The girl said.

"Uhhh, yeah, let's start with that." Karla said, her puzzlement still obvious.

The girl blinked. "Oh, I'm sorry, you probably don't recognize me while I'm in this form. Let me change into one you'll probably feel more comfortable in."

Suddenly, the girl seemed to age in front of Karla's eyes. In an instant, the ten year old girl morphed into a thirty to forty year old woman. Suddenly, it hit Karla, through pictures and many vague memories.

"Mom?" Karla whispered.

The mysterious being nodded.

"Yes."

"How do I know it's really you?"

"Well, that's really all up to you, isn't it?"

Karla took a closer look at the being claiming to be her mother. She couldn't explain it, but Karla had this feeling inside of her that felt so familiar, but could not quite place it. It was the feeling of being safe and _belonging_, without having to care about anything else in the world, at least for a little while. Living a life focused around years of constant war had made Karla completely forget what it was like to live without its horrors. She could only remember one time where she never felt that way.

When she was with either of her parents.

"Oh my god…"

Karla found it difficult to hold back her tears, but fortunately, years of military training and hardening managed to beat out sentimentalism. There were some times were emotion was acceptable, but this wasn't one of them.

"You never used to be so stoic, Karla." Maya smiled. "But I could understand why."

"How are you _alive_?" Karla narrowed her eyes. "And why do you all of sudden have superpowers?"

"I would _love_ to try and explain it all to you, Karla, but there just simply isn't any time for that right now. This is an extremely rare opportunity for me to communicate with you directly without arousing suspicion. So please try and listen."

"Okay." Karla nodded, her military side taking over again. "Then let's start off with what this place is."

"Well." Maya began to sit down just as a chair materialized out of nowhere. "I know how much you don't like science, so I'll put this as bluntly as I can. You, Samantha, about 3,000 Marines, a good deal of Covenant troops, and large portion of New Mombasa were actually _pulled_ into the Slipspace wormhole instead of being outright destroyed."

This was exactly why Karla disliked Slipspace. So many unexplained physics issues.

"So you mean to tell me we got warped here through Slipspace?"

"No, I mean to tell you that you're actually _in_ Slipspace. Well, a Slipspace bubble more specifically."

Karla shook her head and sighed. She was suddenly having a huge headache.

"I understand if this is a little too much for you." Maya said sympathetically. "It's not every day that this sort of thing happens."

"Where is everybody?" Sam asked, looking around her. "Where's Sam, my squad? Wheres-"

She was about to say "Ronald", but stopped there. However, she had the feeling that Maya knew.

"A side effect of the Slipspace bubble being formed was that it contained a time-dilation field."

Karla raised her eyebrow and glared at Maya. It was an expression she used to convey that she didn't understand a word of what was just said without looking stupid. Maya immediately got the point.

"A time-dilation field is basically this bubble where everything inside of it either moves slower or faster than the flow of time outside of it. Right now, everything in this time-dilation field is moving far slower than the time passing in reality. Right now, you and me are the only ones here with any awareness to what's going on because I cancelled out the time-dilation field's effects on you."

"So…" Karla made it appear as if Maya would naturally continue and summarize everything up.

Maya smiled and sighed. "Everybody else is frozen in time, just like a very large and more comfortable cryo-pod."

"Okay, so what are we doing here in the first place?"

"Ah, now we start getting to the meat of the issue." Maya grinned. "You see, there are really only two important reasons- no, three- why I'm involved in all of this.

"The first reason is to ensure that humanity survives. You and Samantha were placed here, at this vital turning point in time in the hopes that your actions will help tip the balance in favor of humanity. However, some of my… colleagues don't quite agree with my methods or agenda, but unlike me, none of them were exactly human in their past lives, so they're not as biased when it comes to the outcome of this war."

"Uh huh." Karla kept playing along.

"The second reason is to ensure that you and Samantha survive. At least long enough to have children."

Karla coughed. "What?"

"Sorry." Maya laughed. "I probably said that a bit too bluntly. What I meant was that you and Samantha are… special to say the least."

"Yeah, and explanation on that would also be nice."

"Have you ever had the feeling that you were somehow different? That you could do things that nobody else could?"

"Now that you mention it…"

Karla could now suddenly remember various events in her life. Events that never seemed to make sense at the time. She never really suffered any serious illnesses, and recovered very quickly from many injuries that would have been incredibly debilitating or even fatal. Come to think of it, Karla couldn't remember a time where a serious battlefield injury would keep her down for long.

"Goddamnit, so _that's_ why Paccone always stays behind me!"

"Yes, you possess the uncanny ability to recover quickly from wounds. It does have its limits, however, but I've managed to keep you covered during those rare moments."

"Well, what can Sam do?" Karla asked, suddenly realizing that Sam might have been hiding things from her.

"Samantha has been manifesting some interesting abilities, and has a great amount of potential. She has incredibly quick reflexes, bordering on premonition, and a sort of extrasensory perception."

"So… she's psychic?"

"Quite possibly. You're really quite lucky. Few people can claim to be the precursors to the next stage of human evolution. It's really quite amazing." Maya could barely keep the excitement out of her voice.

"Did you do this?" Karla asked suspiciously.

"Oh no," Maya shook her head. " I definitely would have been caught if I tried to do a crazy stunt like that. You might want to try asking Scohar though, he's been at this far longer than I have."

"Okay, this is getting to be way too much for me." Karla shook her head in agitation. "From what I've seen, you're basically a god. What's with all these limits and rules on what you can do?"

"Believe me, Karla, I could wipe the Covenant out of existence just by sneezing the wrong way. I would love to end the war right here and now, but you have to realize that there are many others out there like me who can undo my changes or strip me of my powers. Extra-dimensional beings like me aren't exactly supposed to be meddling in the affairs of the physical realm, so I have to be subtle about it."

"Being a Captain, I can completely understand how you feel." Karla frowned. "By the way, what was that third reason you were going through all this trouble?"

"Because you and Samantha are my little girls, and I would move heaven and earth to protect the both of you." Maya said, emotion heavy in her voice.

"Alright, I'm convinced." Karla raised her arms into the air. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, the only thing you can do now is wait. Eventually, the Slipspace bubble will lose its cohesiveness and dump you back into realspace."

"Wonderful. And I'm guessing our destination is going to be completely random."

"That's right."

"But it'll somehow be in a place that has air and atmosphere, and where me and Sam can do the most good for humanity."

"Two for two."

Karla frowned. "And I suppose we're going to have to make do with what we have now."

"Not necessarily." Maya grinned and waved her hand again.

Suddenly, a massive object materialized out of nowhere and came to float next to where Karla and Maya were. Upon closer examination, Karla saw the military markings and emblems painted on the side of the object, and realized it was a UNSC military space station.

"Is that-"

"That is in fact the long-lost Nassau Station. Funny story, really. The whole station was caught in a freak Slipspace anomaly and was trapped in a little space-time bubble. I'm sure you'll appreciate what's inside of it, though."

Before Karla knew it, she suddenly found herself inside the actual station. Somewhat disoriented by the sudden teleportation, she found herself face to face with a hulking red giant.

"Holy shit!" Karla yelled as she jumped back and pulled out her pistol in surprise.

Finally, her rationality caught up with her and she held her fire. Karla gasped at what she saw. She was face to face with an actual SPARTAN II, though it was clad in red armor instead of the traditional green everybody was so fond of. Karla also realized that it wasn't moving. She then remembered about the time-dilation field Maya mentioned. This Spartan must also be frozen in time.

"I would like to introduce you to Petty Officer Second Class Spartan-458." Maya suddenly materialized out of the air behind the Spartan. "I daresay that this is exactly what you need."

Karla leaned forward to examine the Spartan more closely. It looked like the real deal, MJOLNIR armor and all. Though she had never actually fought in combat alongside one, Karla had heard many stories about these things, plus she was in spitting distance of the most famous one ever just hours before. From what she could gather, the Spartans were basically one-man armies, each one worth more than a thousand normal Marines.

"I thought the rest of them were all killed off on Reach." Karla said.

"Now now, don't believe everything you hear." Maya laughed. "There's a reason why the UNSC never lists Spartans as KIA."

"Well, I feel a whole lot safer already." Karla looked around. "Got any other hidden goodies in here? Starships? MAC cannons? An entire battalion of Helljumpers?"

"Well, you'll find plenty of experimental weapons and supplies in the station itself. You're going to need them once you reach your destination."

Suddenly, everything seemed to blur for a moment, as if the entire station were trying to refocus itself in the lens of a camera.

"Well, time's up." Maya said sadly. "Remember what I told you, and try to keep to Samantha out of trouble, though she just seems to love finding it herself."

"You're telling me." Karla agreed.

"Oh, and you really should spend more time with that Sergeant of yours. He reminds me a lot of your father when I first met him."

"What?" Karla was about to ask her mother something else when everything went black.

**Karth:** **Covenant Core World**

Karth was once the jewel of the entire Covenant Empire. It possessed some of the most powerful and highly trained armies in the entire galaxy, its massive shipyards produced countless ships for the grand armadas that made up the Covenant fleet, and it was a center of culture and religion for countless Elites. The planet was considered a paradise by all who stepped foot on its soil, and a utopia for those that hadn't.

However, once the Covenant Civil War started, everything changed. Once word had reached the planet that the Prophets had betrayed them, almost every Elite on the planet rebelled. Since Karth's population was an combination of various species, roughly ninety percent of the population sided with the Seperatists, while a small number of Loyalists stubbornly held on to what territory they had to protect the Prophets residing over Karth. Meanwhile in space, Separatist and Loyalist fleets viciously dueled each other, filling the skies above Karth with fire and burning metal.

Meanwhile, the site of the heaviest fighting was Karth's capital, Serrano, the Loyalists' final stronghold. While the Separatist forces had the numbers on their side, the Loyalists had strong defensive positions and had quite a number of the Prophets' most highly trained Brutes. For the moment, the battle was caught in a vicious stalemate, with neither side able to push the other out of the city.

That is, until an entire human city and space station suddenly materialized out of nowhere and landed in what were once residential hab blocks.

Karla took one look around and immediately realized that the architecture of the buildings outside the city looked _very_ familiar. It looked like the same style Covenant ships were designed…

"Fuck."

Author's Notes: For those of you that don't know, Spartan-458 is actually a character from Dead or Alive 4, so I don't that character or the game in any way. Legal matters aside, All or Nothing is now concluded. The story will continue on into my next fic, Conflict of Interest. Keep your eyes out and keep reading!


End file.
